Intensive undermining of the European agenda: Bajramspahić warns of a series of "anti-European" government decisions

The ruling majority has launched a wave of anti-European decisions and begun an open confrontation with European obligations, thereby jeopardizing the holding of intergovernmental conferences by June this year, warned a civic activist. Dina Bajramspahić.

"Representatives of the authorities announced that there could be two, one for the closure of Chapter 31, the closure of which they themselves sabotaged last year, and the other for the closure of Chapters 4 and 5. However, there is no more talk about it in the public space. This is not surprising given the intensive undermining of the European agenda," Bajramspahić told "Vijesti".

In December, at the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels, Montenegro closed three chapters - 7 (intellectual property law), 10 (information society and media) and 20 (entrepreneurship and industrial policy), while Chapter 31 (foreign, security and defense policy) was blocked by Croatia.

The government has repeatedly said that Chapter 31 is technically ready for closure and will be closed at one of the next intergovernmental conferences. In the meantime, Montenegro and Croatia have begun consultations on the contentious issues...

Bajramspahić reminds that Montenegro has not fulfilled the obligation from the Reform Agenda, which refers to the introduction of visas for one of the countries that are now in a visa-free regime. This is one of 14 obligations that should have been fulfilled by the end of last year, and which are a condition for the payment of the first tranche from the European Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which amounts to about 29 million euros.

Bajramspahić states that the first publicly expressed resistance was to the obligation to delete one of the existing 14 exemptions from the European visa policy (Russia, Belarus, Turkey, China...) annually, which, he believes, is not as dramatic a sacrifice as it is presented.

According to her, the deletion should have been not even for value reasons and the necessity of harmonization with the EU, of which Montenegro wants to become a member, but for lucrative reasons, that is, for the benefit of withdrawing European funds from the Growth Plan.

"The government has not offered convincing arguments or a cost-benefit analysis to show that guests from each of the 14 countries that are exceptions bring more benefit to Montenegro than the European Union," said Bajramspahić.

Just a few days later, she said, the new rejection of reforms is a declaration of intent to prevent the implementation of the new Forest Law, which was adopted in the middle of last year and only came into force on January 1 of this year.

"The formal excuse is that the competent Ministry of Forestry has not fulfilled the prerequisites for the implementation of the law, for which the minister should be held accountable and dismissed. However, the essential reason is the refusal to abolish widespread abuses by party-friendly concessionaires. Because of all the above, Montenegro's rating with international creditors and partners is at risk, and the state has shown that the signed contracts do not bind it and that the word of this administration is not worth much," she warned.

Hiring your staff is a priority

The peak of the wave in just one week, as she assessed, is the fiasco of the Law on Civil Servants and Employees, which best demonstrates the nature and character of the ruling majority.

"This example best shows the absolute refusal to make strides and changes for the better, and that the ruling majority wants to maintain full freedom to employ its own staff without knowledge, experience, skills, or competencies, and to create laws based on which the worst candidates can manage complex systems, without responsibility for the damage they cause," she said.

She stated that the Government rejected the version of the law that received the green light from the European Commission, thus once again halting the public administration reform, which is one of the key pillars in the accession negotiations.

Bajramspahić says that all three of the above examples have shown that the European forces in the ruling majority are in microscopic traces and that they do not have the power to change anything.

"However, their weakness does not make them any less responsible and they are complicit in creating bad public policies, contrary first and foremost to the public interest, and then to Montenegro's European perspective. At every step, they show that between their party interests and general social interests, they choose the former," she said.

The government is the strongest defender of the system's inherited deviations

Bajramspahić says that, although the ruling majority "harnessed propaganda" claiming that there is no constitutional crisis and that "the Constitutional Court has never been more efficient," the elections in Kotor were not completed due to the constitutional crisis, while it is very questionable whether the upcoming local elections will be fully regular.

"Instead of tackling the problems of electoral abuse, the government announces that it will implement electoral reform on its own without opposition, even though consensus on electoral issues is a democratic condition for the legitimacy of all future elections."

According to her, the government's decisions show that it lacks the political will to implement reforms and that the very barrier to initiatives that would "turn off the taps" is the depth and breadth of abuse that is not abating.

"Five years after the political changes, the ruling majority is the strongest defender of the deviations of the system they inherited, and its policies are now the status quo."