According to the civil sector, MPs have limited scope for controlling the work of the Government because it is not regulated by special laws. Montenegro is the only country in the region that, even three decades after the introduction of the multiparty system, does not have laws on the Government and the Assembly.
Dina Bajramspahić from the Alternative Institute warned that the relationship between the Assembly and the Government is insufficiently regulated.
"In the absence of a law, the Assembly refers to its internal act, the Rules of Procedure, in its communication with the Government, which does not bind the Government to a sufficient extent. This leads to ministries turning a deaf ear to parliamentary questions, requests to provide information to parliamentarians, conclusions of the Assembly and conclusions of working bodies, which is absolutely unacceptable and unthinkable in countries of parliamentary democracy. Reporting on the conclusions is not even prescribed by any act, which significantly reduces the influence of the Assembly and the board", Bajramspahić claims.
Representatives of the civil sector, the opposition and the European Union (EU) have been warning for years that the parliament does not fulfill a sufficiently controlling role in relations with the government. During the boycott of the opposition, the MPs of the ruling majority almost did not organize the control hearings of the Government representatives, and the laws that were rewritten were rare. In the Progress Report for 2019, the European Commission (EC) warned, among other things, that the parliament should develop an effective system for monitoring the implementation of the conclusions and recommendations adopted at the control hearings.
They pointed to this at the Anti-corruption Committee, emphasizing that the recommendations of that parliamentary body are not being implemented.
Bajramspahić believes that the laws on the Parliament and the Government would not solve all problems, recalling the example of the Law on Parliamentary Supervision in the field of security and defense, which did not contribute to solving problems in that sector.
"The state of the control function of the Assembly today is such that the Government, rightly, has no reason to take it seriously, nor to anxiously prepare its reports on the work and the situation in numerous areas. The legislative function is also unsatisfactory because many Government laws pass without comments, amendments and without questions. "The Assembly should not allow itself to become just a talking point that has no influence," asserts Bajramspahić. Some representatives of the ruling coalition have warned about the attitude of the Government towards the parliament on several occasions, complaining that the ministers do not come to the sessions devoted to parliamentary issues.
While Montenegrin deputies warn that some ministers do not submit answers to parliamentary questions, in Serbia and Croatia government representatives are obliged to come to the parliamentary session at the request of the deputies, even if laws that they did not propose are being discussed. In Croatia, MPs can ask for a vote of confidence on certain ministers, and the Parliament, among other things, can ask the Government to implement certain actions that are within its competence. Veselin Radulović, the legal representative of the Network for the Information of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), believes that there is a political will to enact laws on the Government and the Assembly. He reminded that last year, after decades of waiting, the Law on the President of Montenegro was passed as soon as Milo Đukanović was appointed to that position.
"It is bad that there is no legislative framework that regulates the functioning of such two bodies of legislative and executive power. This significantly limits the control role that the Assembly should have towards the Government. "It is more convenient for the ruling structure that everything remains as it is, because they can more easily implement their narrow political interests", claims Radulović.
The prime minister has broad powers because there is no government law
MANS lawyer Veselin Radulović warns that due to the lack of a legal framework, the Government changes the number of ministries in each term in order to satisfy party appetites.
"The government has been changed over the years by abolishing ministries and introducing new ones, and it all depended on the will of political parties and even individuals. They can continue to do that because there is no legal framework that limits them," said Radulović.
Before the parliamentary elections, former Prime Minister Milo Đukanović made a decision to divide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration into two departments, and that directive was later implemented by Duško Marković after he was appointed as Prime Minister. The Ministry for European Integration was abolished after Minister Aleksandar Andrija Pejović resigned due to a conflict of interest.
In Serbia, the law on the government provides that the prime minister whose mandate has ended cannot propose laws or pass regulations to the assembly, unless the needs of the state require it. A prime minister who has resigned cannot appoint civil servants to positions in state administration bodies.
Parliament is a voting machine only in underdeveloped democracies
Bajramspahić believes that the members of the ruling majority for years have not shown the will to control the work of the Government, even though the Constitution allows them to do so.
"No one from the ruling parliamentary parties expects to overthrow the Government and its laws, but the members of the ruling parties must justify their salaries and find a way to contribute to solving the problem," she said, stressing that the representatives of the ruling coalition should have constructive initiatives and themselves initiate changes in laws that have not worked in practice.
"Otherwise, the Assembly will have no purpose. Only in the countries of underdeveloped democracies does the parliament stay at the level of the voting machine, instead of encouraging the government to do better work and take greater responsibility. This is the responsibility of the majority MPs, in the presence and absence of the opposition, since the opposition does not have a majority to make decisions anyway," she believes.
Bonus video:
