Having in mind the separation of powers and the role of the legislative branch of government that controls the executive, one might say that the central role of the Parliament is to exercise political control over the work of the Government, as well as over the process of accession of Montenegro to the European Union.
The Parliament of Montenegro has to work further in strengthening its control mechanism in relation to executive power. When talking about this part of parliamentary work, there is a space for further improvement of the control mechanisms towards:
- Organizing special sittings dedicated to parliamentary questions once a month
- Law Amendments on Parliamentary investigations in order to enable, inter alia, introduction of penal provisions for failure to provide information or false testimony, and creation of legal basis for invitation of citizens to testimony in front of inquiry committee etc.
It’s equally important to provide requirements for adequate usage of existing control mechanism:
- Often happens that Government “forgets” or ignore the conclusions of the Parliament. State institutions use the different dynamic while providing information demanded by competent committee, as well as the information about the realization of the conclusion of the Parliament. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the obligation to institutions to report automatically on realization of conclusions of the Parliament, not at the request of the board.
- The anticorruption board still hasn’t determined the procedure for consideration of complaints suggested by interested parties. Therefore, it is necessary to define as soon as possible.
- It is necessary to regulate review of legislative acts within the scope of the fight against the corruption and organized crime by the Anticorruption Committee.
- Procedures for initiatives coming from civil sector are still insufficiently regulated.
The opposition does not use the right of “mobility” of two control hearings in each committee during one year, which is guaranteed by the Rules of Procedure. Using this possibility is very important for the improvement of the control mechanism of the Parliament. However, in the first half of 2014, only one hearing was organized, only in Committee on International Relations and Emigrants.
Institute Alternative, with the support of the Open Society Foundations – Think Tank Fund, implements the project “Analytical Monitoring of the Oversight Function of the Parliament”, which aims to strengthen the impact of implementation of the parliamentary control mechanisms.
Jovana Marović
Research Coordinator
