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:
- Organisation of the Government and criteria for the establishment of ministries and offices, and other services that function under the Government
- Disallowing the process of filling vacant positions by a Government whose mandate has expired, outside the scope of the previously adopted Personnel Plan
- Nominations and consent to nominations that are not in line with regular procedures and ongoing, i.e. already initiated procedures
- 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
- Handover of duties
Read more about our findings in the new publication.
