The Government and Parliament are entering a pivotal year for concluding negotiations with the European Union without work plans: the Government lacks an approved work programme, and parliamentary committees have not adopted their annual plans. We call on decision-makers to adopt work plans as a matter of urgency, so as to allow both institutions and other actors to plan their contributions to legislative and other initiatives.
In December 2025, 73 draft laws were submitted to parliamentary procedure, followed by a further 23 proposals in January 2026. An intensification of legislative activity is envisaged in the Government’s Draft Programme for Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union for 2026, which states that the adoption of 122 strategies, laws and by-laws is a prerequisite for meeting benchmarks and closing negotiation chapters by the end of the year. At present, neither the Government of Montenegro nor parliamentary committees have adopted work plans for 2026, which are intended to serve as a framework for planning this year’s legislative activity.
The Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro do not prescribe either an obligation or a timeframe for the adoption of annual work plans by parliamentary committees. As of early February 2026, none of the 14 standing committees had adopted an annual work plan, including the Security and Defence Committee, which is required to do so under the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the Area of Security and Defence.
The Rules of Procedure of the Government of Montenegro require the Government’s annual work programme to be adopted by the end of the current year for the following year. However, last year’s programme was adopted only in mid-February 2025, and, as with parliamentary committees, the Government has yet to adopt a programme for 2026.
In light of announced increases in legislative activity, the Ministry of European Affairs presented the Draft Programme for Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union for 2026, which foresees adoption of 490 legal acts, 122 of which are directly linked to meeting benchmarks and closing negotiation chapters.
Good practices are still not a formal obligation
The adoption of annual work plans by parliamentary committees is not an obligation prescribed by the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro. In this regard, the Security and Defence Committee is an exception, as it is subject to provisions of the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the Area of Security and Defence, which require the adoption of a parliamentary oversight plan for the following year during the current calendar year.
Since 2020, the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro have undergone as many as six amendments. Members of Parliament have initiated amendments relating to the election and number of Deputy Speakers of the Parliament, the number of Deputy Secretaries General, the use of the minority initiative, and similar issues. However, the obligation to prepare and adopt annual work plans for parliamentary committees has still not been prescribed.
In the absence of formally regulated obligations and clearly defined deadlines and responsibilities, good practices become incidental rather than systematic. Thus, in early 2021, the Parliament adopted a Legislative Work Plan, as well as an Action Plan for Strengthening the Legislative and Oversight Role of Parliament in 2021. The Legislative Work Plan was supported by the publishing of semi-annual and annual implementation reports, providing an overview of statistical data on the process of adopting laws throughout the year. This practice likewise did not become a formal obligation under the Rules of Procedure, and such planning documents have neither been prepared nor adopted in subsequent years.
How did parliamentary committees plan their obligations in previous years?
In 2025, four parliamentary committees operated without work plans. The Security and Defence Committee adopted its Parliamentary Oversight Plan at the end of December 2024, thereby complying with the obligation set out in the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the Area of Security and Defence. Four parliamentary committees adopted their work plans in March 2025: the Administrative Committee; the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration; the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sport; and the Committee on Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning. The remaining five committees adopted their work plans in April 2025: the Committee on European Integration; the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget; the Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms; the Committee on Gender Equality; and the Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare. Throughout the year, the Constitutional and Legislative Committee, the Anti-Corruption Committee, and the Committee on International Relations and Emigrants operated without a work plan.
In 2024, the Legislative Committee also operated without a work plan. The earliest plan to be adopted was the Parliamentary Oversight Plan of the Security and Defence Committee, adopted at the end of January 2024. Five work plans were adopted in February: those of the Administrative Committee, the Constitutional Committee, the Committee on International Relations and Emigrants, the Committee on European Integration, and the Anti-Corruption Committee. The Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms adopted its annual plan in March 2024, followed in April by the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sport. In May, work plans were adopted by the Committee on Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning, the Committee on Gender Equality, and the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration. The final work plan was adopted by the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget in June 2024.
In 2023, as many as eight parliamentary committees operated without work plans: the Legislative Committee; the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration; the Committee on International Relations and Emigrants; the Committee on European Integration; the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget; the Committee on Education, Science, Culture and Sport; the Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare; and the Anti-Corruption Committee. In February, work plans were adopted by the Administrative Committee and the Committee on Gender Equality, while the Committee on Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning, the Security and Defence Committee, and the Constitutional Committee adopted their plans in April. The Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms adopted its work plan for 2023 only on 13 December.
The analysis was prepared within the framework of the project “Fostering Public Debate and Improving the Quality of Public Discourse in the Legislature,” implemented by Institute Alternative with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). The analysis is the sole responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the National Endowment for Democracy.