Changes in Montenegro are not made according to experts, but according to the party's key, and all big promises about speeding up reforms fall into the water when the negotiations on "positions in depth and breadth" begin, said Vesko Garčević, professor of international relations at Boston University.
"Ultimately, we all feel the results of those agreements," Garčević told "Vijesti", commenting on the fact that Montenegro did not receive financial support from the European Commission (EC) in the last financial package for the Western Balkans of 2,1 billion euros at the end of June. evaluating Montenegrin projects as premature and unsuitable.
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Garčević reminds that from the very beginning of the negotiation process, the EC rightly pointed out the limited administrative capacities of Montenegro and demanded the creation of professional staff that would handle the EU accession process.
"Montenegro is not a large system, and considering our limited human resources, it is to be expected that people who have trained to do jobs related to EU accession will remain in their positions, especially when those positions are not political. We don't have so many experts that we can have the luxury of changing negotiating teams with each government," he warned.
Milica Zindović, a program associate at the Center for Civic Education (CGO), told "Vijesti" that this deprivation of the opportunity for citizens to live a better quality of life is a direct consequence of the government's insincerity in its commitment to the process of European integration and fundamental reforms in society, i.e. its lack of political will to professionalizes and optimizes state administration.
"Instead, we have party biases and bad staffing at different levels, with a deficit of professionals who would perform their work in accordance with the public interest of the state of Montenegro. That is why today, among other things, there is no functional negotiation structure", said Zindović.
However, as she added, there are also party-based players in ministries who are happy to use privileges, but run away from responsibility for handing over insufficiently mature projects.
With unprofessional, uncommitted and underdeveloped capacities, we cannot continue, no matter what party membership card they have. Therefore, this is not an accidental omission, this is a serious problem and must be solved in a serious way, Milica Zindović said.
On June 30, the EC launched a new financial package to support 14 leading investment projects for the Republic of Croatia, and there are no Montenegrins on the list of supported ones. As previously announced by the EC, the new package includes projects in the fields of transport, energy, environment, human capital and support to the private sector worth 2,1 billion euros. It is the fifth investment package within the Economic and Investment Plan of the EU for the West Bank, worth 39 billion euros of investments and European grants. It is implemented through the WB Investment Framework (WBIF) platform...
The Montenegrin Ministry of European Affairs (MEP) said that "it is not realistic to expect that every proposed project will be supported in every call" and that the country has so far been successful in withdrawing money from EU funds.
Zindović states that since October last year more than 40 million euros have been lost from EU funds that the government did not know how to absorb.
"With unprofessional, uncommitted and underdeveloped capacities, we cannot continue, no matter what party membership card they have. Therefore, this is not an accidental omission, this is a serious problem and must be solved in a serious way", she assessed.
Last year, Montenegro lost a grant of 41,2 million euros from the European Union, within the Instrument of Pre-accession Financial Support (IPA) intended for the construction of the bypass around Budva as part of the Adriatic-Ionian Corridor, due to incomplete documentation of the project.
In last year's Report of the EC on the progress of Montenegro, it was stated that the investment grant was canceled "because the work on the conceptual project on the section of the Budva ring road on the Adriatic-Ionian expressway was very slow".
According to Garčević, the use of EU funds is also a process of strengthening the capacity of a country.
“This is reflected in becoming proficient enough to properly propose your projects and offer a well-founded rationale for their acceptance. Creating a good project implies that you know EU regulations and that you know how to adapt your proposal to EU requirements and standards, which was missing this time," said Garčević.
He explains that there is also something called institutional knowledge transfer.
"When you want to renew the staff or rejuvenate them, you will enable the new people to spend enough time (and sometimes it is several years) with those who have professionally trained for that job, thus the change of generations or the change of administration is carried out imperceptibly. Such a practice did not take root in our country," said Garčević.
Milica Zindović says that the Government must organize continuous staff training and strengthen internal capacities for the preparation of project applications, but also keep those trained people within the system.
"I believe that many of those who entered the government from the NGO sector can make a significant contribution in the area of expertise, and it is up to them to publicly say whether and what obstacles they had in mind to provide that contribution," she said.
Attacks on those who pointed out the problem
Zindović reminds that the CGO requested the determination of responsibility for this precious loss of funds and points out that it would be important that, as he says, the citizens of Montenegro, on whom this burden falls, find out who is to blame, that is, the names and surnames of those who made these omissions .
"In addition, it is very important to determine why the main body responsible for monitoring these projects did not meet for a long period of time and work on its part of the obligations. Unfortunately, the reactions that came from the Government, apart from being confused, reminded irresistibly of the pattern of action we witnessed in the old authorities - denial of the problem, avoidance of responsibility, attacks on those who pointed out the problem. For this reason, we called on the new government, which must be formed as soon as possible, to prioritize these issues and avoid such tendencies, and to urgently professionalize all segments of public administration and cross paths with various party positions and combinatorics, and for its meritocracy to be basic mechanism of action", said Zindović.
Project writing manuals available
Manuals for writing projects for EU funds can also be found on the Internet.
One of them, prepared by Fors Montenegro, states that before writing the project, preparation is necessary, which includes a detailed analysis and collection of information on possible donors, as well as identifying the appropriate program and call for project proposals.
"Before announcing the public call for project financing, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the program documents and follow other available resources and events that are organized, such as consultations, info days, forums for searching for partners, etc. After the announcement of the invitation, it is necessary to carefully study all the standard forms of the application package, including guidelines for applicants, application form, contract model, models for reports, procurement procedures and other documents published with the public invitation", it was explained.
The manual covers and clarifies the various phases that are necessary when creating and managing EU projects. The first part of the manual explains what a project is and what its basic elements are, the second part is based on an overview of the logical framework approach - LFA (Logical Framework Approach), and the third explains the logical matrix that is most often an integral part of the documentation for EU projects and the product of the logical framework approach and analysis that were previously conducted..
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