This analysis focuses on the legal institute of the “acting official”, the way it is regulated, and the manner in which it is used in practice—particularly in the context of efforts to professionalise and depoliticise the state administration.
During the term of the 44th Government of Montenegro, the practice of appointing acting officials to key leadership positions has continued. As of the end of February 2025, a total of 313 decisions on the appointment of acting officials had been adopted. This confirms that the mechanism, which originally intended to ensure continuity in the performance of certain functions within the state administration until permanent appointments are made, following a public competition, has become the rule rather than the exception. In contrast, within a slightly shorter timeframe, only 41 senior officials were appointed on a full-term basis through the prescribed public competition procedure, indicating a lack of logic when it comes to staffing the most important roles in the public administration.
Acting tenures are frequently renewed without initiating open competitions, as illustrated by the following findings: of the total 184 individuals appointed as acting officials, 95 (51.6%) were appointed more than once—some twice, some three times, and in one case, even four times. In response to our inquiry, the Administrative Inspection interpreted the current legal framework on civil servants and state employees as permitting such repeated appointments. They maintain that the law limits the duration of acting status to no more than six months, but does not explicitly prohibit successive renewals.
The high frequency of renewed appointments highlights a systemic issue in human resource management, and avoidance of open recruitment procedures for permanent posts. This practice can lead to institutional instability, a lack of long-term solutions, and increased political influence over managerial roles in the public administration. Our key recommendation, therefore, is that not only should acting appointments be restricted to individuals already employed within the civil service, but these situations should be avoided altogether by advertising vacant leadership posts before the end of a tenure.