Tomorrow, the Parliament of Montenegro will consider 8 laws that have not undergone public discussion, which continues the highly non-transparent way of preparing legislation that characterises both this Government and the parliamentary majority.
Of the laws on tomorrow’s agenda, five proposed by the Government did not undergo public discussion “due to urgency.” These are important legal texts covering areas such as concessions, energy, renewable energy sources, state property, and internal affairs. Most of these laws were not even planned in the Government’s work programme for this year (laws on internal affairs, concessions, state property). Additionally, the ruling majority’s MPs have submitted amendments to all of these laws, in some cases significantly changing the original draft proposals. Of the three legislative proposals by MPs on tomorrow’s agenda, all were submitted by members of the ruling majority, and only one has received the Government’s opinion.
The two extraordinary parliamentary sessions scheduled for tomorrow are a bad example that is increasingly becoming a practice in the legislative process. Government proposals adopted through expedited procedures and without public discussion—of the 78 Government law proposals submitted to Parliament so far, only a third have undergone public discussion.
It is, at the very least, unusual that MPs from the parliamentary majority are leading in the number of legislative proposals and that their amendments significantly alter the Government’s original draft proposals. This suggests a coordinated action between MPs and the Government to quickly pass or amend important laws, bypassing stages of the process such as public discussion, comprehensive impact assessment, alignment with the European Commission, etc.
Since the start of the 28th convocation, 131 draft laws have been submitted to the parliamentary procedure, 40% of which were submitted by MPs, primarily from the ruling majority (two-thirds of the total). Only 15% of the MPs’ laws include even an attempt at a financial impact assessment. The Government rarely gives opinions on these legislative proposals, even though the Rules of Procedure require it to do so, and has provided opinions on only one-fifth of the MPs’ proposals, almost exclusively on those submitted by the ruling majority.
The public is being actively excluded from the legislative preparation process, both by the Government ignoring this obligation and by MPs submitting legislative proposals.
The publicly voiced objections to the draft law on the use of energy from renewable sources, which require concrete answers and explanations, are proof that public and expert consultation is necessary.
Marko Sošić
Institute Alternative
