Three deputies of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the secretary of the Administrative Board will receive a variable because they worked on decisions on increasing compensation for members of the Management Board of the Fund for Minorities and the Evaluation Commission.
The decision on the payment of variables was made at yesterday's session of the Administrative Board by the votes of the ruling coalition, while Rasko Konjević from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) was against. Variables will be paid to MPs Marti Šćepanović, Ani Nikolić i Bogdan Fatić. The board did not specify how much the MPs will be paid, but the decisions on the variable part of the salary for the MPs of the Parliament of Montenegro from December 13, 2017 stipulated that this part of the salary cannot exceed 80 percent of the average salary in Montenegro. Those decisions specified that, among other things, a deputy can earn a variable part of the salary due to a significant contribution to the activities of working bodies and additional engagement.
Chairman of the Board Ljuiđ Škrelja explained that the members of the DPS and the secretary exercised the right to the variable, because they were members of the Working Group that wrote the Decision on the amount of remuneration for the president and members of the Board of Directors of the Fund for the Protection and Realization of Minority Rights, as well as the Decision on the amount of remuneration for the work of the member Evaluation commissions. The board previously adopted those decisions according to which the president of the Management Board of the Fund for Minorities will receive 350 euros per month, while the members will be paid 250. The members of the Evaluation Commission will receive 30 percent of the net average salary in Montenegro, that is, about 150 euros.
The administrative board also decided to increase the salaries of the heads of parliamentary departments by 15 to 20 percent, after a written explanation from the general secretary. Aleksandar Jovićević that it will not affect the parliamentary budget. The heads of 12 parliamentary departments previously asked the Administrative Board to approve 20 percent raises due to increased responsibility, and after this was made possible for the internal auditors and secretaries of the board. At Konjević's proposal, the Board reached a conclusion according to which Jovićević is requested to submit an analysis of which of the employees in the Assembly should be increased and why by the end of January.
"The General Secretary should know which of the employees has greater responsibility, and I ask that he inform us about it. I will remind you that department heads do not work alone and that there are many officials in the Assembly who also have great responsibility. Assistants to the general secretary are in charge of coordinating the work of the parliamentary departments, including the heads, but they did not ask for raises", Konjević said, while Šćepanović said that the general secretary should submit a report to the committee members.
A new call for the head of the SEC
Yesterday, the board decided to announce the third competition for the president of the State Election Commission (SEC), after previously rejecting the candidacy of Amer Šukurica. Škrelja explained that the SEC asked the members of the Committee to pass a temporary decision until the election of a new president of the Commission. The mandate of the current SEC president, Budimir Šaranović, expired in September.
Škrelja also reminded of the Board's obligation to advertise for members of the RTCG Council, reminding that the mandate of the current Council will expire in June 2019. The members of the board decided to inform the Collegium of the President of the Assembly about the obligation to announce the competition six months before the end of the mandate of the members of the Council.
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