Posted on

Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector and the Process of European Integration

Besides the civilian and internal oversight, and the judicial oversight of the legality of work, parliamentary oversight is an important aspect of control and improvement in the security sector. Apart from being responsible for ensuring legal assumptions for the functioning of the security sector by enacting laws and strategies, the Parliament of Montenegro exercises control and oversight over the elements of the security sector such as the security forces (the Armed Forces and the Police) and the intelligence and security sector (the National Security Agency), all with the aim of controlling transparency, efficiency and accountability.

The importance of the control role of the Security and Defence Committee and the Parliament becomes even greater in the light of recent events in the security and defence sector, specifically the arrest of high-ranking police officers and a member of the Committee due to their alleged connection with organised criminal groups.

It was precisely the Parliament of Montenegro that was recognised in the Action Plan for Chapters 23 and 24 as one of the key institutions charged with implementing activities that lead to the fulfilment of priorities: from appointments in the judiciary, to the revision of the legislative framework in the field of media and the like. However, as noted in the last report of the European Commission for Montenegro, the Parliament was not up to the task when it came to political dialogue and constructive engagement aimed at strengthening parliamentary oversight in the accession process.

Bearing in mind the importance of parliamentary oversight for achieving transparency, efficiency and accountability of the security sector, as well as the role that the Parliament can play in encouraging reforms in this sector, this analysis aims to examine the use and effectiveness of current mechanisms of parliamentary oversight of the security sector and provide recommendations for their improvement, consequent acceleration of the fulfilment of obligations from Chapters 23 and 24, and the fulfilment of political criteria in the part that concerns the functioning of democratic institutions, especially the Parliament.

Posted on

Openly about the issues of internal auditors

The internal audit system still suffers from a lack of personnel, frequent misunderstanding of this institute by public sector managers, as well as insufficient coverage of the public sector by internal audit. These are some of the issues raised at the meeting with internal auditors in the public sector, which we organised on October 27th in Podgorica. 

Internal auditors from state administration bodies, local self-governments, and public enterprises attended the meeting, along with representatives from the Ministry of Finance (unit for central harmonisation). The goal was to continue the collaboration between civil society and internal auditors, which the IA previously initiated through research on the functioning of internal control systems (PIFC) and a conference of a similar format in 2015.

We discussed the challenges that auditors face in their work, the historical development of the internal audit system in the public sector, collaboration with other state bodies responsible for controlling public finances, as well as the new Law on Management and Internal Controls in the Public Sector that is under preparation.

The discussions also involved the transparency of the results of internal audit work, the lack of connection with the Parliament of Montenegro, as well as the effectiveness of newly formed units for internal audit of IPA funds and IT systems.

Among other things, auditors emphasised that they encounter a lack of staffing capacity in their work, frequent misunderstandings by managers, and a failure to recognise the importance of the internal audit as a mechanism. The focus was also on the work of internal auditors in the field of public procurement, the most commonly identified deficiencies, and lessons learned.

The meeting addressed the novelties of the Law on Public Procurement and the research we conducted on simple procurements up to 5,000 euros for the year 2022, the findings of which will soon be presented to the public.

IA will summarise the meeting’s conclusions in “Ten Lessons Learned from Internal Auditors“, aiming to highlight the significance of this system that has been unjustifiably neglected.

The meeting is part of the project “Procurement under the spotlight – making watchdogs work!“ which is implemented with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro through the MATRA support program. The project aims to empower and motivate watchdogs to fight against corruption and undue influences in public procurement.

Posted on

Files on allocation of budget reserve 2016-2019 destroyed

For over two years, we have been awaiting a response from the Government regarding the distribution of the budget reserve during the term of the 41st Government, only to finally be informed that the documentation has been destroyed

Files detailing how the Government Commission for the distribution of funds from the budget reserve distributed money to individuals and legal entities during the period 2016-2019 has been destroyed. According to the response received from the General Secretariat of the Government, decisions on fund allocation, minutes from the sessions, reports, and conclusions of the Commission for the distribution of funds from the budget reserve during 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 have all been destroyed “in accordance with archival regulations”.

We requested this documentation in July 2021 (after receiving part of the documentation for 2020), and the response came two years later, in October 2023. In the brief response from the General Secretariat of the Government, we were told when this documentation was destroyed. According to the categories of archival material of the General Secretariat of the Government of Montenegro, reports, minutes, and decisions of Government commissions are to be retained for a period of five years. At the time we requested the documentation, these deadlines had not expired.

Based on the documentation we previously received for 2020, the Inner Cabinet of the Government approved a payment of around 700,000 EUR for 523 individuals in amounts ranging from 100 EUR to 30,000 EUR in just one session. Now, the documentation for previous years has been lost.

Our recommendation to the new Government, which the previous ones rejected, is to suspend the mechanism of distributing money to individuals and legal entities under the guise of assistance by non-transparent bodies such as the Inner Cabinet and the Government Commission.

Posted on

Anti-deadlock Mechanisms for the Election of Judges of the Constitutional Court

Although the election of judges by three-thirds majority in the second vote, which was proposed by the Venice Commission, is intended to serve as an anti-deadlock mechanism, it is not functional in the current political climate.

The above statement is supported by the fact that the Constitutional Court was deadlocked for almost six months because the MPs could not reach an agreement on the proposed candidates. Consequently, the Court was unable to decide in many cases within its jurisdiction, including the appeals on election processes and whether the President of the State had violated the Constitution.

In the absence of mechanisms that could “force” the MPs to elect the missing judges, the work of the Court was unblocked after six attempts by finally reaching the consensus, under the pressure under the pressure of the European Union and following the announcement of a possible suspension of the accession negotiations. At the beginning, it is important to note that appointments in the judiciary are recognised as one of the key challenges for meeting the benchmarks from Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) in the negotiation process between Montenegro and the European Union.

As it is highly probable that in the next two years the Constitutional Court will lose three of the current six judges because they will become eligible for retirement, there is a danger that this institution will end up deadlocked once again, without a quorum required for decision-making. The objective of this paper is to examine the potential mechanisms for unblocking the election of judges of the Constitutional Court in Montenegro through a comparative analysis of models used for the election of constitutional court judges in the region and in the member states of the European Union, and to offer recommendations to reduce the possibility of a repeated deadlock.

Posted on

For a Better Law on the Government

In September 2023 – almost a year after the public debate on the draft Law on the Government ended, some civil society organisations had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the updated version of the draft of this legal act, albeit exclusively indirectly, through the expert mission of the Venice Commission, which is to submit comments on the said draft.The new draft contains several notable changes compared to the previous version, which was submitted for public debate, and in relation to which Institute Alternative issued a series of comments, most of which were rejected (six proposals were rejected, two were partially adopted, and one was adopted).

Expecting the 44th Government to invest further into the development of this act, and discussions in the new convocation of the Parliament, we underline the need to review certain provisions.Therefore, we once again call on the Government and MPs to ensure that the Law on Government addresses the following issues:

  1. Organisation of the Government and criteria for the establishment of ministries and offices, and other services that function under the Government
  2. Disallowing the process of filling vacant positions by a Government whose mandate has expired, outside the scope of the previously adopted Personnel Plan
  3. Nominations and consent to nominations that are not in line with regular procedures and ongoing, i.e. already initiated procedures
  4. The deadline for proposing the composition and program of the Government in accordance with the Constitution and the adopted amendments to the Law on the President, which have not been challenged by the Constitutional Court in the meantime
  5. Transparency of permanent and temporary working bodies of the Government
  6. Mandatory elements of the Government’s Opinion on proposed laws, initiated by the MPs
  7. Provisions on anticorruption, and integrity checks of members of the Government and their advisors
  8. Handover of duties

Read more about our findings in the new publication.

 

Posted on

For a Better Law on Government

In September 2023 - almost a year after the public debate on the draft Law on the Government ended, some civil society organisations had the opportunity to familiarise themselves with the updated version of the draft of this legal act, albeit exclusively indirectly, through the expert mission of the Venice Commission, which is to submit comments on the said draft.The new draft, which we are now familiar with, contains several notable changes compared to the previous version, which was submitted for public debate, and in relation to which Institute Alternative issued a series of comments, most of which were rejected (six proposals were rejected, two were partially adopted, and one was adopted).

Expecting the 44th Government to invest further into the development of this act, and discussions in the new convocation of the Parliament, we underline the need to review certain provisions.Certain burning issues that we outlined in this overview, confirm that efforts to regulate disputed situations from the current practice through the Law on Government are only halfhearted.

Therefore, we once again call on the Government and MPs to ensure that the Law on Government addresses the issues such as organisation of the Government and criteria for the establishment of ministries and offices, disallowing the process of filling vacant positions by a Government whose mandate has expired, nominations and consent to nominations that are not in line with regular procedures and ongoing. Additionally, there is a need to regulate the deadline for proposing the composition and program of the Government in accordance with the Constitution and the adopted amendments to the Law on the President, which have not been challenged by the Constitutional Court in the meantime, transparency of permanent and temporary working bodies of the Government, mandatory elements of the Government’s Opinion on proposed laws, initiated by the MPs, provisions on anticorruption, and integrity checks of members of the Government and their advisors as well as handover of duties.