President Jakov Milatović submitted a proposal to change the Constitution.
"Based on Article 155, paragraph 1 of the Constitution of Montenegro, I am submitting a Proposal for Amendments to the Constitution, in which I propose an amendment to Article 64 of the Constitution, so as to establish a general rule according to which employees in Montenegro do not work on Sundays and on public and other holidays prescribed by law, with the possibility of prescribing exceptions by law in activities in which this is necessary to protect the public interest," the Office of the President of the State announced.
It is added that the reason for this initiative is the decision of the Constitutional Court of January 28, which repealed Article 35a of the Law on Internal Trade, because it was assessed as violating the freedom of entrepreneurship and the principle of equality before the law.
"This once again shows that the issue of Sunday off cannot be resolved in the long term and in a stable manner without a clear constitutional basis. In other words, any amendment to the law is doomed to failure in advance, because the Constitutional Court has already issued a ruling on this issue. Amending the Constitution would provide a clear and indisputable constitutional basis for this right and prevent future legal and social uncertainty."
The statement states that this solution is also based on the practice of certain EU countries, such as Germany, where Sundays and public holidays are constitutionally recognized as days off, with clearly prescribed exceptions in activities of public interest.
"This issue goes beyond daily politics and represents the value commitment of Montenegro - do we want a state in which work, family and dignity are constitutional categories. Given the broad social significance of this issue, I expect that the Parliament of Montenegro will support the amendment of the Constitution in part of Article 64 and put an end to this issue once and for all," Milatović said in a statement.
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