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The Capital city to return the Acts on Cooperation with NGOs for additional amendment

The IA calls upon the Capital City to return by-law acts that regulating cooperation with NGOs for additional amendment, and to boost cooperation by improving these documents and thus paves the way for the future.

If the Capital City has no vision to create even better basis for cooperation with civil society organizations than the state, the least it can do is not to go below the minimum that already exist at the state level. In other words, if there is no will to adopt better regulations than the Governments’ Decree on Cooperation with NGOs, the solutions contained in that document should be retained.

Instead, the capital has prepared frivolous and rigid proposals, which shows that there is no good will and intent for cooperation. Among other things, it is intended to prescribe that each NGO representative has to have 3 other NGOs supporting him/her in order to get nomination for the working group. However, Capital city proposal does not require that NGOs who support the candidate actually have experience in the area of the working group, which is extremely important.

Our organization also had negative experiences with the Capital City in 2017 and 2018. One of the cases was regarding the participation in the preparation of the proposal of the budget of the Capital City, which is one of the main issues for the functioning of Podgorica. From our experience we saw that this was the call for participation without the intention to really work on the preparation of a high-quality budget proposal.

This simulation of cooperation has shown us that there is no communication and coordination among the local government bodies, when it comes to cooperation with the civil sector. Also, it became clear that the opening of working groups for the civil sector is, not for helping and constructive cooperation, but for raising the statistics of openness of local authorities, in particular the Secretariat for Local-Self-Government and the Secretariat for Finance, and that the responsibility for poor cooperation is missing.

We expect more from our local self-governments, especially from the Capital City, which should represent a positive example for other municipalities, and we hope that the principles of openness and public participation, instead of empty phrases, will be put into the function of essential cooperation between local authorities and citizens. The goal and the ultimate outcome of cooperation between authorities and NGOs should be to improve public policies, better quality of decisions and thus improve the quality of the lives of citizens.

IA team

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DPS against EU and US in new action of retaining control over the RTCG

Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro determined the Proposal for the list for the appointment of the RTCG Council by authorized proposers. Proposal for the list was unanimously supported by the MPs of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which confirmed that the DPS had controlled this process from the beginning, and that there was not a single candidate on the list that was tailor-made for the ruling party, as it became the key criteria for the election into the RTCG Council .

European Commission unambiguously expressed its position in the Montenegro 2019 Report, stating that undue political interference in the work of the public broadcaster are matter of serious concern. Instead of receiving it as a warning, the DPS is even more agile to conquer all the institutions that are crucial for the legitimacy of the upcoming electoral process, directly jeopardizing dynamics of our path to the EU.

This is also noted by the European Commission, as indicated by today’s tweet of the Head of the EU Delegation to Montenegro, Aivo Orav, in which he stated ‘The latest EU Commission report on Montenegro sent a clear message about the importance of remedying continued political interference in the national public broadcaster RTCG. It is a matter of serious concern, which requires resolute steps.’ This tweet was shared by the top European Commission officials from Brussels, including Commissioner Johannes Hahn, as well as the US Embassy in Montenegro, pointing out that the major foreign policy partners of Montenegro speak with one voice. And, it is exactly them that DPS directly confronts because of its party interests, jeopardizing the state and public interest.

All candidates for the RTCG Council members are aware of the circumstances under which they candidate, and their candidature provided legitimacy to premeditated scenarios of the ruling party. On behalf of NGO sector, Goran Sekulovic, well known in public as the author of the convenient biographies of the President of the DPS, stood as a candidate, as well as Milan Radovic, who during his mandate distinguished himself by attacking colleagues from the critically oriented part of the NGO sector and playing a key role in the dismissal of previous management questioning the contract between the CCE and RTCG, for which the court verdicts proved that it did cause no damage to RTCG, as he claimed at the time.

At the Administrative Committee, the Law on Public Broadcasting Services of RTCG was again violated when proposing a list of new / old members of the Council. This has already become a tradition in the work of this body, whose unlawful actions, such as the proposal for dismissal of RTCG Council members from 2017, were confirmed by judicial decisions. Specifically, the Administrative Committee has also assessed the documentation of NGOs which nominated Goran Sekulovic who did not act in the field of human rights protection as required by the Law, hence demonstrating affection for this candidate. The legal criteria for a significant number of NGOs that proposed Sekulovic were neglected, including pensioner’s associations, folklore ensembles, vocal and instrumental groups and theatres. A significant number of NGOs from the media that supported Radovic are not known in the public for media NGO projects in this area.

Also, despite the fact that at the moment of submitting the documentation, the candidate for the RTCG Council member, Pavle Radovanovic, a representative of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, was appointed by the Government of Montenegro as a member of the Commission for European Integration and the Head of Working for preparing and conducting negotiations on Montenegro’s accession to the EU for Chapter 3 (Right of establishment and freedom to provide services). Still, the Administrative Committee, contrary to Article 26 of the Law on Public Broadcasting Services of RTCG, proposed Radovanovic as RTCG Council member. Even the of Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) pointed to a formal obstacle to the appointment of Radovanovic as a member of the RTCG Council. The Administrative Committee could not neglect the fact that at the time of the submission of the documentation, the candidate Pavle Radovanovic did not meet the requirements for appointing a member of the RTCG Council.

We recall that the Administrative Committee made the same mistake during the previous appointment procedure of members of Council of RTCG when enabled Slobo Pajovic to be appointed as a member of this body despite the negative position of Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA), as Pajovic was a public official at the time of the submitting the candidature. Then, the Administrative Committee enabled Pajovic, the former councillor of DPS, to become a member of the RTCG Council.

The Administrative Committee has basically rendered meaningless the process of appointing members of the RTCG Council, establishing violation of laws and procedures as standard in its work, but also causing enormous damage to ongoing integration processes.

Daliborka Uljarević, Executive Director, Centre for Civic Education (CCE)
Ana Novaković, Executive Director, Center for Development of Non-Governmental Organisations (CDNGO)
Stevo Muk, President of Managing Board, Institute Alternative (IA)
Zlatko Vujović, President of Managing Borad, Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI)

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The EU Should React to the Capture of Security Services in the Western Balkans

It was concluded at the event organised by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (BCSP) on 4 June 2019 in Belgrade. The event was organised within the project “Watching the Watchers: Towards Accountable Intelligence Services in the Western Balkans” which is jointly implemented by Belgrade Centre for Security Policy from Serbia, Center for European Strategies – EUROTHINK from North Macedonia and Institute Alternative from Montenegro.

The European Commission has recognised that the countries of the Western Balkans increasingly face state capture, in which security-intelligence services play a significant role. Due to participation in this negative process, the work of the security-intelligence services should not be a taboo topic for public discussion, said BCSP Researcher Jelena Pejić, who moderated the discussion.

Signs of capturing security-intelligence services in Serbia

BCSP Executive Director Predrag Petrović pointed to the negative trend of politicisation of security-intelligence services in Serbia. The illegitimate influence of politics on the work of the security-intelligence services was present before, but in recent years there has been considerable deterioration and more severe misuse of services by politicians. Petrović pointed out that the EU must pay more attention to the reform of security-intelligence services in the process of negotiations with Serbia without which there will be no progress in the rule of law.

“The influence of politics on the work of the security-intelligence services is evident in the case of the appointment of Bratislav Gašić, a senior official of the ruling party, for the director of the Serbian Intelligence Agency (BIA). It is questionable whether such practices exist anywhere in Europe,” Petrović pointed out.

On the other hand, police inspector Nebojsa Blagotić, who investigated the oil mafia and pointed to links between security-intelligence services, political parties and organised crime, was retired early. The court ruled in his favour, but nothing happened. The case he brought out remained completely unexplored, Petrović reminded.

Petrovic pointed out that these examples can look like isolated cases, but there are enough of them to be able to connect in a wider picture.

“Perhaps the most illustrative example of the capture of security-intelligence services in the recent period is the case of a high-ranking BIA employee and former chief of the Belgrade-based BIA Centre, Marko Parezanović, who stated that the greatest threat to Serbia’s security is the covert action of individuals through opposition parties, the media, trade unions and non-governmental organisations,” Petrović said.

Functional oversight of the security-intelligence services would diminish the suspicions of their involvement with organised crime and political power, but it no longer exists. In Serbia there was a good practice of controlling the security-intelligence services that was established by the previous Ombudsman who did several thorough controls, explained Petrović. However, today the Ombudsman does not deal with security-intelligence services, and there is no data available on the number of employees who work on supervision of security-intelligence services in this institution nor how many of them have security certificates that allow a deeper control over the services. The Parliamentary Security Services Control Committee has made some progress in the past, but this trend has been discontinued, Petrović concluded.

The EU Did Not Respond to Early Warnings of Civil Society in North Macedonia

The most drastic example of the abuse of security-intelligence services occurred in North Macedonia when the Administration for Security and Counter Intelligence illegally wiretapped thousands of citizens since 2008 until the end of 2015. However, before this scandal surfaced there were signals that the civil society warned of, Magdalena Lembovska from the Center for European Strategies – EUROTHINK explained.

“It was not clear which security-intelligence service was in charge of what, so we didn’t know where to direct questions, and it was impossible to monitor the work of the services. There was no information about their work, supervision and control. Although there were attempts by the parliamentary committee to supervise their work, services were always able to prevent them. In the meantime, the services’ budget has been increased considerably, several times, mainly through the budget rebalance. We never received answers to why they needed these additional funds, what equipment was purchased and for what purpose it was used. We found out later that some of this equipment was used for illegal wiretapping,” said Lembovska.

Priebe Report as the Decisive Impulse for Security-Intelligence Services Reform

Because of the scandal, European Commission sent a group of experts led by Reinhard Priebe, which revealed systemic problems and published a public report about them. They produced a new report two years later, which showed that only a few recommendations were implemented.

“The Priebe report provided a framework for exerting pressure on the authorities and institutions to fulfil their obligations and to behave responsibly,” Lembovska stressed.

Following the second report, the security-intelligence services reform process was inclusive and involved representatives of civil society, which was a step in the right direction. However, the reform process should encompass other parts of the security sector too, said Lembovska.

Jelena Pejić reminded of BCSP’s proposal that a report modelled after the Priebe report, that analyses state capture, should be conducted in every Western Balkans state. The suggestion was met with support from colleagues from Serbia and the region.

Closing-Off Of Security-Intelligence Services before the Eyes of the EU and the Public

Montenegro’s accession to NATO implied a security sector reform, which is one of the reasons why the reform of the security-intelligence services was not covered by the previous EU integration requirements. However, the EU should become interested in the work of the security-intelligence services before a radical crisis happens, as in North Macedonia, Dina Bajramspahić of the Institute Alternative explained.

“After Montenegro joined NATO, the EU implied that some key things have been done. But I don’t think that’s a good estimate. Now we have almost no insights into the work of security-intelligence services. There was a closing-off which coincided with joining NATO, but also with some personnel changes in the security-intelligence services,” said Bajramspahić.

Secure data sharing was the most important for NATO, while issues of transparency and accountability, which are the most important to citizens, were not included. Ten years ago, statistical data on the implementation of secret surveillance was publicly available, while today it’s claimed that this practice would jeopardise national security, Bajramspahić pointed out.

The National Security Agency of Montenegro has disappeared from the public discourse because representatives don’t aim to bring the work of the Agency closer to citizens, and there are no whistleblowers in this sector either, Bajramspahic warned.

“There must be awareness that security-intelligence services are financed by citizens and have to be responsible to those citizens. Unfortunately, we have a situation where security-intelligence services only recognise political elites as someone they are responsible to,” said Bajramspahić.

However, responsibility for the work of the security-intelligence services is also shared by the supervisory bodies. In Montenegro, a Security and Defence Committee exists, but their representatives didn’t enter the National Security Agency after 2010. The Ombudsman was never there either, although he has the authority and unlimited access to documents.

“We have concerns about the legality of the work of our security-intelligence services. We are also aware that civil society should not deal with the details of services’ work, but we want to see that the authorities that have been established to that end are exercising control,” said Bajramspahić.

Effective democratic and civilian oversight of security-intelligence services is necessary in order to establish trust, panellists concluded.

Video from the panel discussion you can find in the attachment:

This discussion is supported by European Fund for the Balkans through the project “Watching the Watchers: Towards Accountable Intelligence Services in the Western Balkans”, which is jointly implemented by Belgrade Centre for Security Policy from Serbia, Center for European Strategies – EUROTHINK from North Macedonia and Institute Alternative from Montenegro.

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About Contest for digital solution for TV Show NGO sector

Dragana Jaćimović, project associate at Institute Alternative, presented Contest for digital solution for citizen participation for the TV show NGO sector. The contest is organised by Institute Alternative with partners within the You4EU project.

In this TV show, answers were given to these questions:

🔘What are we looking for in this competition?
🔘Who can apply and how?
🔘 What are the main criteria and what is important to note?
🔘 Award for the winning digital solution?

Answers to these and other questions related to competition can be found in the
feature:

During the last week, Dragana Jaćimović also presented all details about contest for TV Show Boje jutra on TV Vijesti. You can find the feature on this link: Boje jutra – Konkurs: digitalno rješenje koje podstiče aktivizam građana.

 

Institute Alternative is organising the Contest together with partnering organisations from Croatia (Gong), Serbia (Belgrade Open School), Slovenia (PiNA) and Spain (Access Info Europe) within the Project „YOU4EU – Citizen Participation 2.0“. The Project lasts from September 2018 until February 2020 with the support of the European Union within the Europe for Citizens Programme.

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Commentary on the European Commision’s Report for the Radio of Montenegro (RCG)

Dina Bajramspahić provided commentary for the Radio of Montenegro (Radio Crne Gore) on the European Commission’s findings from the just published Report on Montenegro for 2019.

In our review of the report, we concluded that the findings of the European Commission put under question the country’s leading position compared to other Western Balkan countries; some explicit criticism align with the findings of Institute Alternative and postpone the closing benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24.

See how this year’s report looks in numbers compared to previous reports and ratings for all chapters in the infographic we’ve prepared.

 

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Role of the Parliament in a Democratic Society

Dina Bajramspahić, our public policy researcher, responded to Vijesti’s question about whether we need the Law on Parliament and Law on Government:

The relation between the Parliament and Government is insufficiently regulated and for almost twelve years since independence, the procedural issues of the mechanisms envisaged by the Constitution are not adequately elaborated. In the absence of the Law, the Parliament regulates its communication with Government with its internal act, the Rulebook, which is not binding for the Government to a sufficient extent. This leads to practices, for example, that ministries do not take into account the MPs’ questions, MPs’ requests for the access to information, conclusions of the Parliament and the conclusions of working bodies, which is absolutely unacceptable and inconceivable in the state of parliamentary democracy. Reporting on conclusions is not regulated by any act, which significantly diminishes the influence of the Parliament and the boards.

The Law on Parliament and the Law on Government are necessary, but these laws would not solve all the issues. This is best demonstrated by the fact that there is a Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the area of Security and Defence that is applied superficially and without excessive contribution to solving issues in this sector.

The situation regarding the oversight function of the Parliament today is such that the Government, rightfully, has no reason to take the Parliament seriously, nor to fearfully prepare reports on its work in various areas. However, not only is the oversight function unsatisfactory, but also the legislative: many Governments’ laws pass without amendments and without questions. The Parliament should not allow itself to become only a rubberstamp that has no influence in so many areas overwhelmed with problems.

To be completely clear: no one expects from the ruling parliamentary parties to topple the Government and Governments’ laws. However, the MP’s of the ruling parties must justify their salaries, i.e. find ways to contribute to solving problems, have constructive initiatives, ideas, suggestions, initiate amendments of laws that are not functional in practice, initiate thematic discussions on issues that are of importance to citizens, etc, thereby preserving dignity for the highest state institution. Otherwise, the Parliament will have no purpose. Only in countries of undeveloped democracy the Parliament retains itself at the level of the voting machine, instead of encouraging the government for better work and greater accountability. That is the responsibility of the MP’s that represent the majority in Parliament – both in the presence and in the absence of the opposition – since the opposition does not have the majority to decide anyway.

The original text ”Montenegro is the only one in region that does not have the Law on the Government and the Parliament – The Government can play games with MP’s” is available here.