NGO “Institute Alternative” expresses its most deep protest regarding the refusal of the party elite in power to respect civil society and the idea of public service. Unfortunately, recommendations coming from the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, or remarks from Freedom House and State Department’s reports weren’t adopted.
Violence towards civil society, repeated for the fourth time, represents the culmination of the rejection of multi-annual suggestions, ideas and efforts coming from all domestic and international subjects, which all had in common emphasizing the necessity to nominate members of the Council of the national public service from the lines of NGOs, unions, medias and University.
Instead of improving, and changing attitude towards respecting legitimacy, benevolent recommendations and the process of European integration of Montenegro, political majority is once again confronting its citizens an European values. The members of Parliament that voted against these nominations showed disrespect towards the organizations of civil society and towards citizens involved in them.
Now, when it became obvious that politics cannot dictate majority in the Council, they got the idea that the Council itself should be abolished and law changed by introducing a model that would project the majority’s will directly into the national public service. Concept of wide participation of civil society in the Council should be kept and independence, transparency and efficiency of its work should be additionally improved. The Parliament must not have a say in deciding who the members of the Council should be.
Stevo Muk
The president of the executive board of Institute Alternativa
