The Parliament of Montenegro must pass a special law regulating relations with state institutions if it wants to prevent the further collapse of the control role of the parliament, repeat from the civil sector and the opposition.
At the request of the representatives of the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Assembly removed from the agenda at the beginning of the week the opposition's request for an interpellation on the work of the Minister of Justice, Zoran Pažin.
The director of the Media Center, Goran Đurović, warns that the role of the parliament is continuously collapsing and attempts are being made to reduce it to decorum in simulating democracy.
"Deputies of the opposition are restricted from exercising their control function, and they often have problems obtaining the necessary information from state authorities related to the performance of their work. The representatives of the executive power and representatives of judicial bodies contribute to the collapse of the importance and functioning of the Assembly with their irresponsible attitude. As a rule, the majority in the parliament rejects the proposals and initiatives of the opposition MPs, which can open a debate on the essential problems in Montenegro", believes Đurović and states that it is necessary to pass a law on the Parliament and the government that would define their relations.
"Perhaps a new convocation of the Assembly will finally manage to put things in the right place and create conditions for the implementation of the control function of the Assembly. The first of the possible steps is the passing of the law on the Parliament and the law on the Government", he told "Vijesti".
The Parliamentary Committee for Comprehensive Reforms of Electoral and Other Legislation, through one of its sub-committees, launched an initiative to enact a law on the Parliament.
Representatives of the opposition said that this would define relations with other state bodies and avoid situations in which state officials do not respond to the calls of deputies.
The invitation for a control hearing before the parliamentary committees for anti-corruption and security and defense was recently rejected by the supreme state prosecutor (VDT) Ivica Stanković and special state prosecutor (SDT) Milivoje Katnić, clarifying that they are not obliged to deliver reports on specific investigations to MPs.
The members of the opposition demanded a hearing of the prosecutors regarding the "Envelope" affair and the illegal measures of secret surveillance against the members of the Democratic Front (DF).
At the beginning of Sunday, the initiative for an interpellation about Pažin's work was rejected, even though the members of the ruling coalition previously agreed that this item should be on the agenda.
The opposition said that the ruling coalition was trying to protect Pažin from confronting the deputies and accused the minister of asking for the request to be removed from the agenda.
The Ministry of Justice did not answer "Vijesta" whether Pažin requested that the interpellation be withdrawn from the agenda.
Member of the Democratic Front (DF) Jovan Vučurović believes that the parliament never had a controlling role, but the opposition indicated that it was the duty of the members of parliament.
He warned that the parliament has been humiliated, while the parliamentary majority agrees to such a role.
"The parliamentary majority mainly serves to raise its hands and to be a mere service of the dictator, who is steeped in crime and corruption... The withdrawal of the interpellation is a direct acknowledgment that the government and its vice president were not allowed to appear before the members of the DF and other opposition parties, because our arguments are much more powerful," claims Vučurović.
The General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Ivan Vujović warned that the Assembly, like many other institutions, is recording increasingly poor results when it comes to basic democratic standards.
He reminded that the Parliament used to be the best-rated institution in EC progress reports, especially because of its supervisory function.
"At that time, no one thought of ignoring citizens' representatives in the way that today, unfortunately, is becoming a daily practice. Parliament is everywhere in a democracy a barrier against the autocratic tendencies of the executive power, but also against all other subjects they can think of, as in in our case, that they are above the law and democratic standards of the developed world," Vujović claims and points out that in Montenegro, a drastic decline in democratic standards and the complete collapse of certain institutions is noticeable.
"This is precisely what is best depicted in the EC strategy through the term "captured states", and the consequence of such trends is the blocking of the European integration process. If, through a comprehensive political dialogue, the state of collapsed institutions is not urgently remedied, Montenegro will enter a dangerous spiral." , he said.
Prosecutors obliged to come
Vučurović warns that the prosecutors are obliged to respond to the invitation of the deputies because they were elected in the Assembly.
"Katnić and Stanković are obliged to come to the control hearing, but the President of the Assembly and the parliamentary majority are silent on this fact. The top of the regime, which controls those two, does not want them to be exposed to the questions of DF deputies, which would concern corruption in the prosecutor's office and affairs that go to Milo Đukanović and his entourage. "That's why Katnić and Stanković are running away from the anti-corruption committee, the security and defense committee, VDT is running away from the press conference," warned Vučurović.
Pažin at the Anti-corruption Committee
On Friday, November 1, the anti-corruption committee will discuss the EC progress report related to chapters 23 and 24. The committee session will be attended by Zoran Pažin, chief negotiator Aleksandar Drljević, as well as members of the negotiating groups for chapters 23 and 24, Marijana Laković and Sandra Đonović.
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