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.
