Minister of Sports Nikola Janović and Minister without Portfolio Marija Vučinović are members of the Government who attended the most meetings since its establishment at the end of November 2016, until the end of January this year. For the same period, the most absences were recorded by the recent Minister of European Affairs, Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Srđan Darmanović.
This is shown by the data that the Secretary General of the Government Nataša Pešić submitted to the independent MP Aleksandar Damjanović. Previously, the non-governmental organization Center for Civic Education (CGO) requested this information on the basis of the law on free access to information, but the Government refused to provide it.
The data show that Janović attended all 59 sessions, while Vučinović was absent once. Pejović attended 32 and Darmanović attended 33 sessions. The diplomatic activities of Darmanović and Pejović are certainly one of the reasons for their absence from executive power sessions. Statistics show that Defense Minister Predrag Bošković was absent from 22 sessions, and Science Minister Sanja Damjanović from 21 sessions. Damjanovićka has a certain amount of time to do science, which requires her presence at CERN. One of the important projects that the department headed by Damjanović is working on is the Initiative for the establishment of an international institute in the region of Southeastern Europe, and direct contacts at CERN are extremely important for the progress of that project.
Ministers of Finance and Health, Darko Radunović and Kenan Hrapović, also noted a significant absence. Out of 59 sessions, Radunović attended 46 and Krapović attended 47 meetings of the executive power. Minister of Education Damir Šehović was absent from 10 sessions.
Prime Minister Duško Marković absented himself from meetings nine times, as did the Ministers for Human Rights and Economy, Mustafa Zenka, Dragica Sekulović, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Zoran Pažin. Deputy Prime Minister Milutin Simović was absent four times, Minister of Labor Kemal Purišić was absent five times, and Deputy Prime Minister Rafet Husović and Minister of Internal Affairs Mevludin Nuhodžić were absent six times each.
"The average attendance or absence from Government sessions indicates that the Prime Minister and Vice Presidents fail to establish the required level of discipline, nor do they have enough authority in relation to all members of the Government. Those members of the Government who are absent from the sessions also show personal irresponsibility. The question arises as to what is the justification for individual members of the Government and commissions who do not manage foreign affairs, such as the responsible minister, to be absent from the sessions of those bodies. What are the objective, and what are the subjective reasons for someone whose job is primarily linked to Montenegro, to be absent from most of the sessions where public policies and the legislative framework are decided upon and key decisions of importance for the functioning of the Government and for life are made citizens", said CGE coordinator Damir Nikočević for "Vijesti".
He added that the transparency of state institutions is a prerequisite for faster accession to the EU, and by being closed, the General Secretariat works to its own detriment and to the detriment of all citizens who must be informed about affairs of public importance.
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