Representatives of the civil sector claim that the Government does not consult them when making decisions and writing laws, even though the European Union (EU) requires them to do so. They warn that the Government Duško Marković, like the previous ones, tries to reduce the influence of NGO representatives in working groups and ignores their views. Executive Director of the Center for Civic Education (CG) Daliborka Uljarević believes that the gap between the government and critically oriented NGOs is huge, warning that the "dirty campaigns of the government's collaborators" contributed the most to this.
"The time has passed when one can respond with insults to reasoned criticism coming from NGOs that have built credibility and expertise. Public opinion polls prove that such defamation actions were fruitless and that the government came out of them weaker and NGOs stronger. About 51 percent of the surveyed citizens stated that they trust NGOs, while they trust the president, the Parliament and the government much less," said Uljarević.
In the reports on the progress of the European Commission (EC) for years, insufficient cooperation of the civil sector and state institutions has been pointed out, while representatives of the authorities claim that they respect the views of NGOs and engage them in working groups. On the other hand, NGOs claim that their representatives in state institutions are marginalized, as well as that public debates are not organized when drafting laws. The law on data secrecy, which was not subject to public discussion, was withdrawn by the government last week at the insistence of the civil sector. "That was the only reasonable move because it was a freak text that only further narrowed the space for the democratization of Montenegro, and widened it for the manipulations of the authorities and circles close to them," claimed Uljarević.
President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Alternatives (IA) Stevo Muk clarifies that the Government does not use the findings of NGOs in reports on the implementation of public policies and conduct comprehensive research. He warns that the Government is trying to make the NGO's findings meaningless and embellish the image of its work.
"When NGOs are included in some working groups and bodies, they try to minimize the possibility of our influence in every way. This is an indication that there is no essential openness to a critical attitude and the role of the civil sector as a controlling factor. Avoiding public hearings is one of the numerous attempts to bypass the public when proposing laws on data secrecy, bypassing the public in important cases, such as new solutions for public procurement or competition protection", Muk believes.
Executive director of CRNVO Ana Novakovic points out that the Government's attitude towards the civil sector is still focused on meeting the formal requirements of the EU, and not on substantive dialogue and solving key issues. She reminds that there is an institutional framework for dialogue, which was established due to EU pressure.
"The government does not have a position and does not open space for the exchange of opinions on the fact that representatives of NGOs are illegally dismissed from working and advisory bodies, that freedom of expression is limited, that the media pressure of a part of the media on activists is aimed at damaging their reputation. The government is obliged to have a clear position on these phenomena", said Novaković.
Critical NGOs as "evil, ugly and dirty"
"During the presidential and local elections in Podgorica and during the DPS offensive on the Public Service, we had a peak of negative rhetoric towards critical NGOs. Now NGOs and the media are being labeled again in connection with the protests. The government and the ruling party use every opportunity to present to the public, through the pro-government media, an image of critical NGOs as "evil, ugly and dirty", thereby intimidating other critical voices in society.
"It is an illustrative example of the campaign against the CGO in the pro-government media, in which over 500 negative articles and media reports were published," claims Muk.
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