Appointments in the judiciary were a prerequisite for the negotiations with the EU not to be completely frozen, but they are not enough to make the necessary progress, according to the interlocutors of "Vijesti", and they say that now, more than ever, a more mature and responsible approach, unquestionable political will, is necessary. as well as hard and dedicated work to improve the situation in various areas.
Public policy researcher at the Institute of Alternatives Milena Muk she told "Vijesti" that the public has created a replacement of theses as if the overall fate of the negotiations depends on appointments in the judiciary, which is "far from the real agenda and the rather infamous cross-section of the implementation of key recommendations from the cluster of chapters and reforms that form the basis of the overall process (the so-called fundamentals). "
Program assistant at the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Milica Zindović says that Montenegro has a lot of obligations on the way to the EU, and the most difficult ones, some roads are paved, but the reform agenda is a moving target and that's where the effect counts, not the elapsed time.
"The problems produced by the previous authorities were not solved, and they were further increased by the fact that the party interest remained ahead of the public interest, and with many actors and frequent changes, European integration was completely put ad acta," Zindović told "Vijesta".
Montenegro has been negotiating with the EU for 11 years, and during that period it opened all 33 negotiation chapters and closed only three. The condition for closing all chapters is to obtain the final benchmarks for 23 and 24, which relate to the area of the rule of law. For those key chapters, 83 temporary criteria are defined (45 in chapter 23 and 38 in chapter 24), which need to be fulfilled in order to obtain the final criteria.
Out of a total of 45 temporary measures in chapter 23, 18 of them are in the area of justice, 14 in the fight against corruption, 11 in fundamental rights, one in the area of cooperation with non-governmental organizations, while one measure is of a general nature.
The government took the first step in obtaining the final benchmarks last week, by electing the seventh judge of the Constitutional Court. Faruk Rusulbegović. Now it is necessary for the parliament to unblock the other judicial institutions by electing three members of the Judicial Council, who should elect the president of the Supreme Court, as well as by electing the supreme state prosecutor (VDT). All these functions are in the temporary mandate of acting officials.
In addition, the EC asks Montenegro to amend the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges, the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office and convincingly plans the necessary changes to the Constitution, which would address all the existing recommendations of the EC, the opinions of the Venice Commission and the recommendations of the Council of Europe's Group of States against Corruption ( GRECO), in order to comply with the EU acquis and European standards on judicial independence and prosecutorial autonomy, as well as their impartiality, responsibility and professionalism.
It is also recommended to adopt a new strategy and action plan for judicial reform and rationalization of the court network, as well as to fully apply the ICT strategy, in order to improve the efficiency of the system. In addition, it should strengthen the anti-corruption system and resolve old cases of attacks on journalists. In Chapter 24 (justice, freedom and security), the recommendation is that the use of plea agreements should be limited to exceptional cases, the transparency and credibility of the judicial response to organized crime should be further increased through a more consistent and more deterrent penal policy...
Milena Muk reminds that it is necessary to adopt changes and ensure effective implementation of the Law on Prevention of Corruption and Criminal Legislation, but insists on the implementation of all recommendations of the "peer review" mission from 2021, especially those related to financial investigations and seizure and confiscation property.
"In this area, the EC has clearly indicated the priority of resolving the length of court proceedings and the frequent postponement of trials in cases related to organized crime and the need to ensure a stronger mutual understanding between the courts and the prosecution when it comes to money laundering and the quality of evidence" , she said.
She stated that in the domain of public administration, the obligation to adopt amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information, as well as the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees and the Law on Local Self-Government has long been pending in order to improve employment conditions and transparency.
"In terms of media freedom and the position of the media, it is necessary to finally end the process of adopting media legislation in accordance with EU standards and establish clear protection measures against inappropriate influence on the editorial, institutional or financial independence of the public service," said Muk.
The ministers announced the reform agenda as soon as possible
Whether Montenegro will receive money from the fund under the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans also depends on the implementation of key reforms. On November 8, the EC adopted the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, with the aim of accelerating the enlargement process and the growth of the economies of the candidate countries. For this purpose, a new reform and growth fund for the region of six billion euros (two billion euros in grants and four billion euros in the form of soft loans) for the period 2024-2027 has been proposed.
Payments will be made only after the agreed reforms have been fulfilled, that is, the reforms will be tied to deadlines and their implementation will be a condition for receiving European money as support for the budget twice a year. The EC's proposal on the creation of the fund should be adopted by the European Parliament and the European Council by next spring. This means that Montenegro should coordinate its reform plan with the EC by March, so that it can withdraw the first tranche of funds in June or July at the latest.
That is why a government delegation, consisting of its vice president and the minister of economic development, was in Brussels yesterday. Nick Djelosaj, as well as the ministers of European affairs and energy and mining, Maida Gorcevic i Saša Mujović. A delegation of the Assembly consisting of representatives of 12 parliamentary clubs will be in Brussels the next day. As announced, the delegation visiting the European Parliament will be led by the Vice President of the Assembly Zdenka Popović.
The Government announced that about 413 million euros were planned for Montenegro from the Growth Plan and that the ministers announced in a conversation with EC representatives that the Government will prepare and submit to the EC a proposal for the Reform Agenda by December, with concrete proposals for support measures in three priority areas - business environment, digitization and innovation and energy.
Milica Zindović says that only honest work on fulfilling the obligations in Chapters 23 and 24 can move Montenegro from the deadlock in the accession negotiations and position the country as a credible and responsible partner that completes long-established homework.
"This creates a better position for the absorption of EU funds, including from the Growth Plan, and their use for the right purposes, i.e. in a way that will provide the citizens of Montenegro with a better quality of life, and convince the EU that we deserve membership in that club." she said.
He notes that the Growth Plan, in addition to having a note of conditionality in fulfilling the obligations from Chapters 23 and 24, also includes work on strengthening socio-economic convergence, economic integration in the region, focus on chapters such as agriculture, fisheries, etc. which are the assumption of unhindered use of these funds in practice and where it is really needed.
Although, as he says, the obligations from Chapters 23 and 24, as well as the strengthening of administrative capacities and strategic planning, are a prerequisite for embarking on the story of the Growth Plan, "there must be no neglect of obligations from other chapters".
"The coming months, through concrete results or the lack of them, will show how much the Government and the parliamentary majority care about improving the image we have as a country in the eyes of European partners, and what is even more important, what is the degree of commitment to reforms in the interest of all citizens", assessed Zindović.
Many recommendations in the red zone
Milena Muk reminds that the Institute's analysis of the fulfillment of recommendations from basic areas through a comparative review of EC annual reports showed that only the recommendation related to the improvement of the strategic framework for public administration reform was fulfilled through the adoption of the Public Finance Management Reform Program.
That, she added, means that there is a rather long list of unfulfilled tasks and recommendations that are in the red zone. He reminds that some of them refer to appointments in the judiciary, but not just any, but those that will be carried out "in a meritocratic and transparent manner, in order to ensure the proper functioning of the judiciary".
"Although the list of recommendations in the red zone is quite alarming, I think it is realistic that most of them will be implemented in the expected period of time, even six months, especially for those processes that started or were unnecessarily delayed in the previous period, such as changes to the Law on Freedom access to information, regulations on the promotion of employment in public administration, media laws, etc., according to Muk.
She added that the recommendations and benchmarks concerning the balance of results (the so-called "track record") are the most demanding and reminds that in this year's report special attention was drawn to the need to clearly address the risks of corruption and infiltration of organized crime into the judiciary and other institutions. , by implementing a strong preventive policy and providing a strict judicial response to detected cases.
"However, even in relation to the more demanding challenges of effective application of regulations and 'strengthening' of the state, determination and a clear plan to overcome them can be shown, and the EC has already recognized the initial positive impulses in the prosecution of organized crime and corruption", she stated.
In the new report, the EC gave Montenegro bad grades for chapters 23 and 24 and noted, among other things, that the Parliament of Montenegro has several times ignored the opinion of the Venice Commission, as in the case of amendments to the Law on the President, which were annulled by the Constitutional Court.
Montenegro did not fully address the recommendations of the Venice Commission from 2021 on amendments to the Law on State Prosecution, including the appointment of lay members of the Prosecutorial Council by a qualified majority, in order to reduce the risk of inappropriate political influence on the Council.
It was established that changes to the Law on the Judicial Council and Judges are underway, however, the recommendations of the EC and the Venice Commission have not yet been fully implemented.
In its opinion on the Law on the Judicial Council, the Venice Commission recommended, among other things, to ensure that the working rights of judges, such as the right to an adequate salary or the retirement age, are regulated by law.
The recommendation of the Supreme Court is also to reduce the applicability of exceptional mechanisms against "dead ends", such as the election of the acting president of the Supreme Court (or any court), to determine the criterion of an appropriate and adjusted assessment for judges of the Supreme Court, and to foresee that they are to initiate disciplinary proceedings only the members of the Judicial Council are responsible for the procedure.
GRECO's recommendations, among other things, refer to integrity checks of ministers and state secretaries, before their appointment, in order to prevent possible risks of conflicts of interest. The same was recommended when it comes to the head of the prime minister's office, as well as politically appointed "special advisers" to the president and deputy prime minister. In its recommendations to the police, GRECO states that it should not be subject to political influence and notes that its operational independence must be a priority. By December 31, 2023, Montenegro should submit a report on the measures taken to implement the recommendations.
Reforms are a "bitter pill" for the authorities
Milena Muk says that the current lack of political will is the main brake on EU accession.
"As obvious as the absence was, the eventual revival of political will will be easy to measure. The framework set through the process of accession to the EU is quite precise, so in that sense there cannot be too much confusion", warned Muk.
Milica Zindović says that the will existed once before, albeit on a limited scale, and only to the extent that the authorities saw that they were cutting the branch on which they were sitting, because the reforms that must be implemented are a bitter pill for everyone who is used to limiting the development of institutions and professionals.
"For some time now, we have had a serious problem, which is reflected in the neglect and chaotic nature of the negotiation structure, complete disregard for public interest, frivolity, lack of planning, direction and coordination in part of the negotiation process, and the absence of even the smallest level of activity from the European agenda that would brought us one step closer to membership", she warned.
This, as she added, is best confirmed by figures, such as those from the Government's Information on the implementation of planned obligations in 2023 from the EU Accession Program of Montenegro, which shows that the previous Government of Dritan Abazović implemented only 26 percent of the obligations from the European agenda.
"Expectations from this government are much lower than from some previous ones, which can be helpful, but the visible lack of capacity is also a concern, as well as its unwieldyness as a tribute to party agreements," she concluded.
The government is proposing between 60 and 80 reform measures
Ministers announced yesterday in Brussels that the Government will propose between 60 and 80 reform measures, which will be implemented in the next four years, which will be a prerequisite for the allocation of part of the financial support. Also, as announced by the Government, part of the reform agenda will include part of the key reforms related to the rule of law and public administration reform, which are of particular importance for the EU accession process.
The Minister of European Affairs, Maida Gorčević, said that the Government is determined to speed up the implementation of reforms in the area of the rule of law, as well as to fulfill the recommendations from this year's EC Report in the short term.
"We have an ambitious but realistic deadline. The government will prepare and propose a set of reforms by mid-December, when the EU-Western Balkans Summit is planned," said Gorčević.
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