The new government, instead of suspending the honoring of privileged officials with apartments and loans at the expense of citizens, continues on the path drawn by former prime ministers Milo Djukanovic i Dusko Markovic, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" assessed.
The Government's decision to appoint new members of the Commission for Housing Issues caused strong reactions from part of the public, especially the fact that she was appointed as a member Nataša Pešić, adviser to the President of the State Milo Đukanović. She was the general secretary in the Government of Duško Marković and is a member of the Main Board of DPS, and earlier she received an apartment from the state on favorable terms, based on the decision of the Commission for Housing Issues...
The Government said on Friday that the Commission will review the work of the previous ones, that the decisions will be public, with the protection of personal data, and that the members will not receive compensation for their work in the Commission.
The work of the Commission has been in the center of public attention for years, because apartments were allocated on favorable terms not only to government officials, but also to judges and prosecutors, which was assessed as the influence of the executive power on the judiciary.
Last year, the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption found that at least nine prosecutors and judges, including presidents of several courts, received housing assistance contrary to the regulations, which establish that the housing needs of judges, state prosecutors and judges of the Constitutional Court are regulated acts of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council and the Constitutional Court.
Among those who received loans and apartments from the state on favorable terms, the president of the Commercial Court was arrested Blazo Jovanić, former president of the Administrative Court Branka Lakocevic, former president of the Constitutional Court Dragoljub Drasković, former Minister of Culture Branislav Mićunović (DPS), former Minister of Education and current SD MP Damir Sehovic, former MP and current Deputy Prime Minister Ervin Ibrahimovic (BS), former Minister of Justice Zoran Pazin (DPS), special prosecutor Sasa Cadjenovic, as well as the recently arrested former longtime president of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica.
Vice President of the Assembly and Member of Parliament of the Movement for Change Branka Bosniak for "Vijesti" he says that it is an unconvincing attempt to mislead the public that the newly appointed commission will review earlier decisions on the allocation of apartments and loans.
Bosniak: Shamelessly throwing dust in the eyes
"Well, she doesn't have that authority because it is clearly known based on the Decision on the method and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials what her responsibilities are. It would be correct if the Government did not underestimate our intelligence. Not to mention that the person who was honored by this shameful decision was appointed in the Commission, so it is shameless to throw dust in our eyes and talk about some alleged review of earlier decisions, and it is to be expected that Mrs. Pešić will review the decision impartially with which she was honored with an apartment," said Bošnjak.
As he says, it is even more disgusting when those who got loans and apartments in this way, and not only them, but also their mothers and spouses, are the loudest in the government.
"Unprecedented hypocrisy. "Instead of keeping quiet and not irritating the public, they are the loudest," Bošnjak said.
She previously submitted a proposal to the Constitutional Court for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the provisions of the Decision on the method and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials. The Constitutional Court did not consider the initiative.
Bosniak says that there is no justification for the Government's decision on the appointment of the president and members of the Commission, which refers to an unconstitutional and discriminatory Decision.
"Instead of repealing this Decision, which was made and 'improved' by Đukanović and Marković, in order to finally put an end to the various honoring of our privileged officials with apartments and loans and the illegal influence of the executive on the judiciary and the legislature, the new Government creates continuity ", said the Bosniak.
The allocation of apartments to officials has been repeatedly criticized by the European Commission.
Former European Commissioner for Enlargement, now Commissioner for Budget and Finance Johannes Hahn said in 2019 that the EC would raise the issue of allocating apartments to public officials with the authorities in Montenegro.
"I am not aware that such a practice exists in any EU member state. It is not compatible with the principles of public administration to which the states have committed themselves in the process of enlargement and raises important issues that go to the heart of the rule of law," said Han in an interview for "Vijesti".
Maraš: They remembered the illegality checks when the scandal broke out
Director of the Media Association of Southeast Europe (MAJE) Vuk Marash he assessed that the Government's cynicism in appointing Pešić to check the illegalities of the Commission, through which she herself got the apartment, shows how disingenuous everything that is heard from the Government, including the story about European integration, is.
"I have no doubt that the housing commission was not created to check any illegalities, but they remembered that when the scandal broke out because of Ms. Pešić, so they tried to cover it up by mentioning some other names from the Prime Minister's Office," Maraš told TV Vijesti. .
After the Government's decision, MANS asked whether millions of euros of citizens would be spent again to provide staff "in depth".
"Will the work and decisions of this commission be public?" asked MANS, whose executive director is Vanja Ćalović-Markovic was in the National Council for the fight against corruption at a high level and dealt with that problem.
She is at the press conference in April last year, together with the then Deputy Prime Minister and the current Prime Minister Dritan Abazović announced that the previous government of the DPS spent about 25 million euros from the state budget for the last ten years on solving housing issues for 175 public officials and 405 lower officials.
Article 27 of the Decision on the method and criteria for solving the housing needs of officials stipulates that the Commission decides on the solution of the housing needs of officials, and that the members of the Commission are appointed by the Government, namely: the president and four members at the proposal of the Prime Minister, and one member each at the proposal of the Assembly Cme Gora and the President of Montenegro.
In addition to Nataša Pešić, a representative of the Assembly was also appointed as a member of the Commission at the Government session on Friday - Ivana Božović, head of the Bureau of Legal Affairs.
He was appointed as the president of the Commission for Housing Issues Sergej Sekulovic, advisor to the Prime Minister for internal policy and former Minister of Internal Affairs. He was appointed as a member of the Commission Ivo Šoć, adviser to the Prime Minister on legal issues, Ana Rašović (URA), head of the Cabinet of the Prime Minister, Milica Smolović, adviser to the Secretary General of the Government i Irma Selmanović (DPS), adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for regional development.
The previous members of the Commission were dismissed - Bozo Milonjic, former Secretary General of the Government and President of the Commission, then Nikola Kandić, former Deputy Secretary General of the Government, Željko Savović i Aleksandar Novović, former advisers to the Prime Minister and Žana Praščević-Milacic, former acting assistant to the Secretary General of the Government.
Maraš says that, if the prime minister did not want the representative of the President of Montenegro to be in that body, he could have changed the decision, so she would not have been physically there.
"The responsibility for this lies with the prime minister, not with the president who formally proposes someone, but with the prime minister who has decided that it is acceptable for him to have that person of that profile sit there," Maraš said.
Democratic Montenegro announced yesterday that Edina Dešić, a specialist in journalism, who was appointed state secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare on Friday, received a housing loan of 40.000 euros under favorable conditions.
Democrat MP Tamara Vujović she also said that all those who got apartments in this way fit together in the legendary sentence of the former director of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs Alije Košute - that it is fair that, unlike citizens, officials get affordable apartments and loans.
Sekulović: Judges and prosecutors will not get apartments
The new president of the Commission for Housing, Sergej Sekulović, told "Vijesti" that the Commission will act and make decisions in accordance with the law and clear regulations.
"The practice that we had the opportunity to see in the previous period, where apartments were provided to government officials on preferential terms, must no longer happen. We are aware that such decisions have compromised its function to a great extent, especially by granting loans and apartments to judges and state prosecutors, contrary to the provisions of the law. We remind you that the previously adopted amendments to the law provide that the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils are responsible for solving their housing issue, which will mean that the Commission cannot make any decisions regarding them," Sekulović said.
He announced that the constitutive session of the Commission and each subsequent one will be open to the public, so that transparency will be at the highest level.
"Citizens will have the opportunity to see how we responsibly treat the state, citizens and the budget," said Sekulović.
Bosniak: There is no fight against corruption with excessive DPS machers
Branka Bošnjak said that at the beginning of the mandate of this Parliament, she again put the Bill on reviewing the origin of property and special taxation into the procedure.
"The proposal foresees that all those who, according to this shameful decision of the Government or similar decisions at the local level, without advertising, are honored with an apartment or a loan must compensate this state and pay for those apartments at the market price and return the money to the state budget. That's justice. This is the zero point from which the moral renewal of Montenegro should start. We will insist on this provision and there will be no compromise", she said and added that they warned that with "overworked DPS machers" there is no fight against corruption and no progress.
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