The Government of Montenegro
President
Mr. Igor Lukšić
Dear Mr. Lukšić,
Institute Alternative participated in the public debate about the Action Plan to monitor the implementation of recommendations from the European Commission’s Opinion and prepared comments on the draft of this plan. The comments were timely submitted to the Ministries in charge and the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, as well as the coordinator of the entire process – the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and European Integration.
As direct participants in the process of preparing the Action Plan, we believe that is very important that the Government at this stage practically demonstrates its willingness to allow the civil society to play an active role in the process of EU integration. Therefore, we propose that the Government prepares a document / report from the public debate with an overview of all proposals, suggestions and recommendations that were submitted during the process. The report should also contain answers to why some proposals have been accepted and included in the final Action Plan and why others were not. In this way, the Government would provide a feedback to the participants of the public debates.
The Action Plan should, after improvements and inclusion of all constructive proposals that came both from civil society and representatives of the European Union, be a good starting point for the implementation of recommendations from the European Commission’s Avis. However, activities and established timeframe for their realization do not constitute a sufficient basis for meeting the recommendations if the sub activities and contents of the strategic legal framework of the reform are not timely and adequately established. Hence, in favor of the realization of seven key priorities for EU membership negotiations, it is necessary to ensure transparency of the process, include all interested stakeholders in the process of defining public policies and strengthen mechanisms for effective monitoring.
We believe that the mechanisms for implementing the Action Plan and effective monitoring could be enhanced by introducing an obligation of the Government to prepare regular monthly reports on the implementation of measures contained in this document. If the Government accepts this proposal, it should prepare seven monthly reports on the implementation of identified measures by September. It is only this way that the public will have direct access to real progress in achieving goals set by the EC.
We also suggest that the first Government’s session of every month until 01 September should be dedicated to the implementation of the Action Plan through a discussion of monthly reports. Besides a strong symbolic importance of commitment to the process of European integration, this would strongly confirm the duty of all responsible entities to report with full attention. This would also fully implement and further strengthen your commitment to personally coordinate this process, as you have stated in your keynote speech.
Attached is the draft text of the additional Government’s conclusions.
We hope that our proposals meet your approval,
Kindest regards,
Stevo Muk
President of Institute Alternative’s Managing Board
Proposed draft text of the additional Government’s conclusions:
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration is tasked to prepare and publish the report on the public debate on the draft Action Plan which will include an overview of all proposals, suggestions and recommendations that were submitted as well as rationale to why some proposals were accepted and others have not.
Ministries are tasked with providing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration with monthly reports on implementation of measures from the Action Plan by the end of each month, during implementation of the Action Plan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration is tasked with preparing an overall report on implementation of the Action Plan for the first Government’s session in each month.
The Government will reserve the first point on the agenda of each first session in the month for the discussion on the monthly report on implementation of the Action Plan.
The Government recommends that the Parliament of Montenegro and other responsible entities identified by the Action Plan prepare monthly reports on implementation of measures under the Action Plan and submit them the Government
