Although their six-year mandate as a member of the Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG) expired on November 2, 2016, Milorad Jovović, Milivoje Radović, Asim Telaćević and Srđa Božović are still in those positions. They were elected to that body of the supreme monetary institution on the proposal of the Assembly, which was supposed to propose new members after the end of the mandate, which has not been done to date.
Why the Parliament did not initiate the procedure for the election of four members of the CBCG Council for a year and six months, which is their legal obligation, and when they will do it, are questions that were not answered by "Vijesti" until yesterday from the Assembly. The questions were sent to the office of President Ivan Brajović and the press service.
The Assembly, on the proposal of the Committee for Economy, Budget and Finance, elects four members to the Council of the CBCG. The committee was first chaired by SD member Vujica Lazović, and after he was elected ambassador to Slovenia, he was replaced by Predrag Sekulić from DPS. The two of them, nor any member of the board, did not raise this issue.
The old law on the CBCG from 2010 and the new one that entered into force in November last year defined that "a member of the Council whose mandate has expired continues to perform his duties until a new member is appointed". Bearing in mind this article of the law, Jovović, Radović, Telaćević and Božović do not violate any procedures, but it is questionable why the parliament is not doing its job and whether it is a "stalemate" that politically corresponds to the ruling DPS, because in in case of starting the procedure, they probably had to trade with the coalition partners SD and the Bosniak Party and cede part of those positions to them.
The Governor of the CBCG, Radoje Žugić (former DPS official), who took the leadership position in the supreme monetary institution in October 2016, did not raise the issue either. In addition, through the new law, he strengthened his position, because he abolished the competences of vice governors.
The new law on the CBCG from November last year defined that the institution should inform the Assembly when the term of office of the members of the Council elected by the parliament expires. Žugić did not use that legal provision.
"According to the CBCG Act of July 22.07.2010, XNUMX no closer procedure for appointing Council members was prescribed. Among other things, the aforementioned law stipulated that "four members of the Council shall be appointed by the Assembly, upon the proposal of the Assembly's working body responsible for finances." "Accordingly, the CBCG had no authority in the process of appointing those members of the Council, and therefore no obligation to inform the Assembly about the expiration of the term of office of the members of the Council. We also point out that that law stipulates that "a member of the Council whose term of office has expired continues to perform his duties until a new member is appointed," they told "Vijesta" from the CBCG.
They further explained that the amendments to the law that entered into force on November 5 last year introduced a provision that determined the obligation of the Central Bank of Serbia to notify the Assembly, among other things, of the expiration of the mandate of "members of the Council who are not employed by the Central Bank, no later than 60 days before expiration of their mandate".
"As the mandate of the members of the Council had already expired before the adoption of the amendments to the CBCG law, the aforementioned provision could not be applied to them", they claim in the supreme monetary institution.
The CBCG said that the Assembly should be asked when it will fulfill its legal obligation to appoint new candidates to the CBCG Council.
Jovović and Radović are professors at the Faculty of Economics, Božović was a high official of the SNP, and Asim Telaćević is a pensioner who was once a well-known banker. Telaćević is also one of the founders of DPS and a close friend of DPS leader Milo Đukanović.
The CBCG Council consists of the governor, three vice-governors and four members elected by the parliament. Their mandate lasts six years, and according to the new law, they can be elected to that position twice in a row. That solution was also in the old law.
Radoje Žugić took control of the banks
Governor Radoje Žugić and two vice-governors Nikola Fabris and Irena Radović were elected to those positions under the old law. Žugić was selected in October 2016, and Fabris and Radović in the spring of the following year.
When the new law on CBCG came into force, the position of third vice-governor was introduced and Miodrag Radonjić was elected to that position at the end of last year. In the previous government, he was the assistant minister of finance, while Žugić was a minister.
With the new law, unlike the old one, the clear powers of the vice-governors have been abolished and their duties are determined by a special decision of the governor. In the new distribution of tasks, Fabris retained the leadership of the financial stability sector, but Radović did not retain the bank control sector, but Žugić took it under his authority. In the organizational chart, Radonjić covers the sector for financial and banking operations.
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