Two years of the 27th convocation of the Parliament of Montenegro, which went down in history as the first convocation constituted following the change of Government in elections and three decades of rule by the Democratic Party of Socialists and their coalition partners, are now behind us.
Those two years were marked by numerous precedents. The most prominent among them are as follows: the vote of no confidence in two consecutive Governments (the 42nd and 43rd Governments, a greater degree of the legislative initiative of Montenegro), greater degree of legislative initiative by the Members of Parliament, and frequent re-composition of the parliamentary majority. In this year’s review of the implementation of the control function of the Parliament, we underline the trends in the use of fundamental control mechanisms - interpellations, parliamentary questions, parliamentary hearings, parliamentary investigations and deliberations of reports. In assessing the use of the aforementioned control mechanisms, we were guided by principles of good parliamentary practice and lessons learned from parliamentary life in Montenegro.
The significance of the role of the Parliament of Montenegro is reflected in the fact that in just over six months, two Governments lost the confidence of MPs and that two motions were filed to initiate parliamentary investigations, following a “hiatus” that lasted seven years.
However, strengthening the role of the Parliament in the political system does not go hand in hand with qualitative and sustainable changes in parliamentary control of the executive branch.
