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Western Balkan PAR Monitor 2021/2022

The PAR Monitor 2021/2022 is the result of monitoring work performed during 2022 by the Think for Europe Network, and it represents a compilation report of all the key findings for the entire Western Balkan region in six areas of PAR defined by the SIGMA Principles of Public Administration. Furthermore, as the third systematic PAR monitoring in the region by civil society, this report offers benchmarking between WB administrations and comparison with the baseline 2017/2018, and 2019/2020 monitoring cycles.

PAR Monitor reports are based on a comprehensive methodological framework designed by the WeBER research team, combining quantitative and qualitative evidence sources. With the EU-SIGMA Principles as the building blocks of monitoring work, PAR Monitor reports complement the same type of work of the SIGMA/OECD and the European Commission and offer citizen and civil society perspectives on these Principles. Together with this comparative regional report, the PAR Monitor package consists of six national reports, each including findings on the 23 compound indicators to monitor a selection of SIGMA Principles.

In line with the WeBER mission, these monitoring exercises are driven by the necessity to strengthen domestic, bottom-up pressure for PAR from the civil society in the region, especially from the view of keeping demand for this reform ongoing in the event of loosening of the EU’s conditionality in PAR domain eventually. All findings from this report, PAR Monitor 2019/2020, and the baseline PAR Monitor 2017/2018 can be accessed and compared via the Regional PAR Scoreboard at https://www.par-monitor.org/regional-par-scoreboards/.

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The Public Procurement Inspection Found Irregularities Based on IA’s Initiative

At the initiative of Institute Alternative (IA), the Public Procurement Inspection found seven irregularities in procurement procedures through direct agreements in three municipalities and one ministry during 2021, but misdemeanour proceedings cannot be initiated due to the statute of limitations.

The Public Procurement Inspection, while conducting supervision based on the initiative and invoices provided by Institute Alternative, identified irregularities in the procedures for direct public procurement, specifically in procurements through direct agreements worth up to €5,000, conducted in 2021. According to data from the Directorate for Public Procurement Policy, almost €40 million, or about 11% of the public procurement budget, was spent through direct agreements in 2021.

The initiative for inspection oversight followed after Institute Alternative analysed spending through direct agreements, i.e., simplified procurements up to €5,000, for 2021, using a sample of ministries and municipalities. Direct procurements of goods, services, and works with an estimated annual value of up to €5,000 are conducted through the direct selection of a procurement item from a specific supplier, accepting an invoice, fiscal receipt, or contract, depending on the type of procurement. The data obtained by Institute Alternative, consolidated in the analysis ‘Direct Procurements Under Spotlight,’ showed, among other things, that some procurers deviated from the rule that a single invoice cannot exceed €5,000.

Earlier this year, IA revealed that ministries and municipalities had procured items such as local brandy, suits, brooches, gold cufflinks, porcelain coffee sets, and more in this way.

Based on the data and invoices provided to the Public Procurement Inspection, irregularities were found in the Municipality of Mojkovac (four violations), the Municipality of Andrijevica (one violation), the Municipality of Ulcinj (one violation), and the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism (one violation). The IA initiative also covered invoices from the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the Public Procurement Administration did not find violations in these cases, as these ministries had signed contracts for the procurements for which the invoices were provided.

However, despite the identified irregularities, the municipalities and ministries will not be held accountable for these violations. According to the Inspection’s Notice of Inspection Supervision based on the initiative (UPIN 0207-724/23-13726), the Public Procurement Inspection stated that misdemeanour proceedings could not be initiated due to the statute of limitations. Since these procurements were conducted in 2021, under the Misdemeanors Law, misdemeanor proceedings cannot be initiated or conducted if more than one year has passed since the violation occurred (Article 59, paragraph 1). According to the Law on Public Procurement, these are serious violations for which fines ranging from €5,000 to €20,000 for legal entities are prescribed.

Institute Alternative will continue to monitor the use of direct agreements, considering that according to the Public Procurement Report for 2022, 12.4% of all public procurements, worth over €63 million, were contracted through direct agreements.

We analyse the public procurement system within the Project “Procurement under spotlight – Making Watchdogs Work!”, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro within the MATRA Rule of Law program. Project aims to empower and motivate watchdogs to combat corruption and undue influence in public procurement.

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MPs legislative initiatives on the rise

As we await the constitution of the new convocation of the Parliament, we provide a comparative overview of the previous MPs’ work.

Our analysis of the annual reports of the Parliament in the last four years has shown a continuous increase in extraordinary sessions of the Parliament, alongside control hearings.

The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has affected the intensity of parliamentary activity: in 2020, twice as many laws were passed compared to the average of the other three years.

However, mechanism of parliamentary questions was the least utilised during the previous year, 2022, during which votes of no confidence passed in the 42nd and 43rd Government of Montenegro.

On the other hand, parliamentary committees worked the longest in 2021, with the Committee on Economy, Finance, and Budget being the most active, while the highest number of sessions was held back in 2019, with the Legislative Committee leading with 49 sessions. The fewest amount of sessions were held in 2020.

Overall, the Anti-corruption Committee is the least active parliamentary committee. Its passivity is particularly noticeable during 2020, 2021, and 2022. The Committee on European Integration is also among the least active committees, even though it is another working body with a so-called horizontal mandate to oversee the process of Montenegro’s harmonization with EU standards.

Furthermore, the recognised trend of increasing legislative initiatives by MPs from 2019 to 2022 indicates the necessity of closer regulation of the law-making process, considering that they are not obliged to conduct public consultations and regulatory impact assessments.

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Presented results of WeBER PAR monitoring for 2021/2022

On June 19 and 20, Institute Alternative organised a meeting of the National working group for monitoring public administration reform in Montenegro. During the meeting, the results of the last monitoring cycle of the public administration reform for 2021/2022 were presented, as part of the WeBER 2.0 project.

The workshop for civil society organisations entitled “Citizens first in public administration reform in Montenegro” was held in Petrovac. This event brought together 25 participants, representatives of the non-governmental sector.  In addition to the results of the last monitoring cycle for the year 2021/2022, previous findings and results of the WeBER project were also presented.

In addition to representatives of civil society organisations, representatives of institutions also participated in the workshop – Marija Hajduković (Ministry of Public Administration), Luka Đuričković (Ministry of Finance) and Boris Rebić (UNDP). Representatives of institutions presented the results on the implementation of strategic documents in the field of public administration reform and public finance management, as well as the current state of play in the field of e-services. The participants of the workshop also got acquainted with the change of approach in monitoring the public administration reform by the SIGMA/OECD initiative, whose revised principles were presented by Jesper Johnson.

WeBER 2.0 project – Western Balkan Civil Society Empowerment for a Reformed Public Administration – is dedicated to strengthening participatory democracy through greater engagement of civil society in policy development and implementation of public administration reform in the Western Balkans. WeBER in Montenegro is led by the Institute Alternative, and at the regional level it consists of partners from the Think for Europe (TEN) network, with the support of the European Policy Center (EPC) from Brussels.

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Montenegro and challenges in assessing the rule of law

Milena Muk, a public policy researcher at the Institute Alternative (IA) was one of the panelists at the conference “Rule of law monitoring for EU countries and candidates: Bridging the Gap”, in Skopje, North Macedonia, organised by the European Policy Institute (EPI).

During the panel, Muk stated that Montenegro finds itself in an unprecedented situation, primarily due to the change of government that occurred after 30 years of single-party dominance.

Milena Muk

Advancements in the legal framework, particularly the introduction of a qualified majority in parliament for the appointment to the highest judicial authorities, have not prevented unjust interference in the functioning of the judiciary, as shown in the example of Montenegro.

On the other hand, Muk stated that certain progress has been made, when it comes to opening high-level cases of corruption and organised crime, despite certain legal changes after 2020, which were criticised by the European Commission. However, she pointed out that it is difficult to measure the impartiality of the prosecution, as it can not be expressed numerically through the number of cases initiated against members of the old and new parliamentary majorities. Therefore, Muk concludes that it is important to cross-check the evaluations of the prosecution’s work with different stakeholders, especially civil society organisations and the wider professional community, alongside the public perspective.

The conference in Skopje was opened by the director of the European Policy Institute Simonida Kacarska, the Swedish ambassador to North Macedonia Ami Larson Jan, and the Deputy Ministre of Justice of North Macedonia Viktorija Avramovska Madić. In addition to Muk, the panel featured the representative of the European Partnership for Democracy (EPD) from Brussels, Carolin Johnson, as well as Arberesha Loxha Stublla from the Group for Legal and Political Studies from Prishtina and Denis Preshova from the Faculty of Law in Skopje.