In December last year, with the votes of the parliamentary majority, the Law on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings was adopted... Then it was stated that the census will be conducted in May this year by the Government of Montenegro, which was voted no-confidence on August 20, and same year 2022?! Apparently ignorant, that is, authentically forgetful citizens of Montenegro and hypocritical Western diplomats, it did not "catch" the eye that one parliamentary majority voted no confidence in the state administration, while another parliamentary majority voted for the above-mentioned Law on the Census and that it was fully aware of the circumstances that it will possibly be implemented by a government that does not have their support! In liberal democracies, the values of the rule of the people are realized through the legislative and executive authorities, which are by their nature political authorities, and which must be in an appropriate correlation due to the determination of the personal responsibilities of those who carry them out.
In our case and regarding this topic, it is certain that the relationship between the legislature and the executive does not have clearly defined boundaries and that certain political subjects, as well as certain public officials, try to avoid public criticism and their very certain criminal responsibility.
If by any chance we can exclude the circumstance that we do not have a law on the Government of Montenegro and a legally undefined engagement of the so-called technical Government, we still have to problematize the implementation of the current census because, due to the way it is organized and the importance it has for future processes, it does not belong to the current and urgent tasks of the executive power. In addition to the fact that it has been repeatedly postponed, the holding of the census in the current constellation of political relations has the certain circumstance that it can be started during the mandate of the outgoing and technical Government, as well as that it will be completed, or not, during the constitution of the future Government.
We must warn the current executives, both as laymen and as experts, that in this case they must adhere to international standards and experiences of parliamentary democracies, as well as that they must postpone the implementation of this census and leave it as a legacy to the future, 44th Government of Montenegro. Therefore, it is not surprising that the position from the resolution of the European Parliament recommends Montenegro to conduct the population census after the stabilization of political conditions, because otherwise its eventual holding would inevitably lead to further polarization of our fragile community.
It should be repeated once again that the unilateral behavior of any branch of government, especially that which has no legitimacy, is an action contrary to the Constitution of Montenegro and that by its manifestation it represents the usurpation of jurisdiction, and the usurpation of jurisdiction represents the collapse of legal security and the beginning of the end of the rule of law!
In addition to all of the above, there are still open doubts in this domain related to the status possibilities of the Directorate for Statistics. The Law on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings vaguely defines the authority of the administration to coordinate and implement a public campaign on the occasion of the census, while it does not contain any penal provisions for those who want to politicize this administrative procedure, participate in it without grounds and thus undermine its purposefulness. How do the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of the Interior, the Administration for Cadastre and State Property and other state administration bodies participate in the preparation, organization and implementation of certain census tasks, and in accordance with their competences? Until now, the representatives of these administrative bodies have not advertised in public regarding the problematization of the maintenance of this public process.
Although we all witnessed that the outgoing Government violated the recommendations of the European Union and the United Nations that population censuses should not be held in election years, we were also denied information on whether the Administration for Cadastre and State Property updated the ortho-photos ( view of the state territory from the air), as well as whether the Register of house numbers, streets and squares (address register) has been completed in cooperation with local self-governments.
The statement of the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, addressed to the citizens who intend to boycott the census, is no less important, but very strong. Although the law in question does not define misdemeanor punishment for persons who boycott the census, Milatović should not have expressed support for repression against those who refused to provide census data. If he already played the role of mediator so wholeheartedly during the negotiations on the formation of the new government, then it was to be expected that he would play an identical role on the occasion of this public controversy.
In the end, since during this, as well as in the last census, there will be those who will be told by billboards how they should and should not express themselves, it is necessary to make a review of a reckless ideological prank that some of the academics of CANU once extended . Namely, the claim that Montenegrin national existence was established only by the Constitution of 1946 is a shameful and, needless to say, treacherous claim that is best refuted by Prince Danilo's author's article published in "The Times" on September 30, 1856. In it, the first secular ruler from the bishop line of Petrović states that in Montenegro: "The blood of its heroes fell on every stone of its high mountains and Montenegro preserved its precious freedom. The policy of the great powers would be very wrong if they did not take into account the sacrifices made by their people in the name of Christianity. That people who, between the Serbian kingdom, the Byzantine empire, the kingdoms of Bulgaria, Bosnia and Epirus, all of which succumbed to the attacks of the Turks, proudly defended themselves among their waterless mountains, and who knew how to preserve, despite their poverty and scarcity, the most sacred possession that a the nation can have - its independence”.
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