The recent denial of a quorum on the Anti-Corruption Committee of government deputies, as well as previous similar examples, a smaller number of prime minister's hours than planned, and the failure to schedule control hearings, are assessed by "Vijesti" interlocutors as evasion of responsibility, cowardice, and sacrificing the control function of the Parliament to particular interests.
Parliamentary body chaired by Jevto Erakovic (DPS) could not comment on the anti-corruption aspects of the Law on Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism and Real Estate Development between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, because no representative of the ruling majority parties appeared.
The largest party in power, the Europe Now Movement (PES), announced on the same day that they "will not give legitimacy to the discrediting of key investment projects just because the DPS is not in a position to manage them according to the old matrix, to the detriment of the state and in favor of the powerful."
On the other hand, parliamentarians Dragan Bojović (Democratic People's Party), Marko Kovacevic (New Serbian Democracy) and Jasmin Ćorović (Bosniak Party) justified their absence with private and family reasons, while Momcilo Leković (Democrats) did not answer "Vijesti's" question about why he was not at the session.
Similar practices have occurred before. Government MPs denied a quorum at a session of the same committee in October, when a report by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) on monitoring the spending of state-owned electricity companies was to be discussed, but also in April last year at the Committee on European Integration, when opposition MPs wanted to request a control hearing of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs. Filip Ivanovic and Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic.
On the other hand, the Security and Defense Committee rejected the control hearing of the Deputy Prime Minister in June. Alekse Bečić, the supreme state prosecutor Milorad Marković and the chief special prosecutor Vladimir Novović, regarding suspicions of political pressure on the work of judicial bodies.
Also, according to the Parliament's rules of procedure, three Prime Ministerial Hours were supposed to be held this calendar year, and one was held.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HUMILIATED AND MEANINGLESS
Former Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Branka Bosniak He tells "Vijesti" that "the House of Representatives has been completely rendered meaningless and humiliated."
"Unfortunately, it seems that those who believe that everything is permitted in politics, especially from a position of power, have taken over the government and are behaving exactly that way. In popular terms, they have 'gone wild'. That is why the House of Representatives has been completely rendered meaningless and humiliated."
"Although government should imply wisdom, statesmanship, seriousness and responsibility, seeking compromise and the best solutions, we are witnessing a complete absence of all of this. Everyone is pulling for their own side, and the main connective tissue of the ruling coalition is the fear of losing the seats they hold," adds the former MP.
CONTROL ROLE SACRIFICED ON THE ALTAR OF PARTICULAR INTERESTS
Program associate at the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Nikola Mirkovic points out that the control role of the Parliament is a victim of particular interests.
"It is obvious that this is an agreement between the ruling parties to consciously trample on what in democratic societies represents the backbone of the balance of power through the system of control of the legislative branch over the executive branch, for the sake of their own interests. Accordingly, the control function of the Parliament is being sacrificed on the altar of these particular interests. However, it should be borne in mind that this is seriously undermining institutions."
Bošnjak points out that "partyocracy, exposed narrow-party and personal interests have completely swallowed up the weak Montenegrin democracy."
"The DPS government was steeped in corruption and crime, but it had knowledge, which, unfortunately, it mostly directed in the wrong direction and they at least pretended to be a democracy, while this conceited, often immature and dominantly ignorant majority with dubious degrees, much more brutally, uncompromisingly, even bullily tramples on the Rules of Procedure, which, I should note, is a constitutional category and thus completely stifles the control role of parliament."
She said that she simply could not recognize some of her former comrades:
"But our wise people said 'give a man power and you'll see who he is', and I think we've seen it and the masks have fallen. The fact is that this is not how you go about the EU, and they know it well. They advocate rhetorically, but show the opposite with their actions, there are countless examples and that is not at all a coincidence."
She points out that the impeding of the work of the Anti-Corruption Committee stems from cowardice:
"The obstruction of control hearings and the work of the Anti-Corruption Committee speaks of the weakness and lack of self-confidence of this government, because it is nothing more than evasion of responsibility or sheer cowardice, and there is no justification for it. After the change of government, the Parliament was praised in EC reports for its openness and transparency, but now it seems completely privatized, hermetically sealed, there are no agreements, and there are no answers to the questions that the public rightly seeks."
AND WHEN IT IS PRESENT, IT'S BETTER NOT TO BE PRESENT
Mirković considers the lack of sessions dedicated to the prime minister's hour unacceptable.
"As for the relationship between the Government, and above all the Prime Minister and individual ministers, to put it mildly, all of this is unacceptable. What should be an exception is becoming a bad practice - not holding the Prime Minister's hour, and even when the Prime Minister or ministers address the members of the Parliament, as well as the citizens who are listening to all of this, it sounds very arrogant and condescending, which indicates a lack of respect for the work and function of the Parliament as an institution, but also for all those who listen to it."
Bošnjak points out that these sessions, in the rare situations when they do occur, do not have an appropriate means of communication.
"Sessions intended for Prime Minister's Hour and parliamentary questions have become forced rarities in the break between two trips. And even when they do happen, when you see that level of communication, maybe it's better that they didn't happen."
THE SOLUTION IS NOT IN THE RULES OF PROCEDURE, BUT IN THE LAW
Responding to the question of whether MPs should be required to attend sessions, Mirković said that the Rules of Procedure are often not respected, and that the rules it prescribes are circumvented, and that as such it is not sufficient.
"It is a technical document that regulates the technical aspects of the work of this institution, procedures, rules and obligations. However, the Rules of Procedure can hardly remedy the structural errors that exist in the parties themselves and the approaches of the deputies. We are in dire need of a Law on the Assembly, the draft of which is nowhere in sight, and which, among other things, would have to strengthen the obligations, as well as sanctions in relation to the deputies."
Mirković recalls that in the previous session of the Parliament, a working group was formed that was supposed to work on drafting this law, but that it met only twice, and that no work products saw the light of day.
"Therefore, there is no political will to regulate the work of the Parliament, even though the authorities and convocations are changing, which leads to the conclusion that such an order suits the parliamentary majority, regardless of who represented it."
Bošnjak believes that sanctions should not be imposed on MPs for words spoken in parliament, but that consequences can be imposed for not attending sessions, which is common in many parliaments:
"We are witnessing the fact that there are some MPs who are not in the parliamentary benches for even half a year, which is unacceptable. The second is the boycott of parliament, which I personally believe should be allowed as a form of political struggle, but a boycott that should be total and not partial and of course clearly expressed and explained. However, solutions regarding the issue of consequences should be adopted by consensus, as should any amendment to the Rules of Procedure. Unfortunately, that is no longer the practice either."
Partitocracy, exposed narrow-party and personal interests have completely swallowed up the weak Montenegrin democracy, says Branka Bošnjak
The former MP believes that it is "a rather distressing and sad picture of the parliament of a country that aspires to be the first new member of the EU."
ERRORS COVERED BY MANIPULATIONS
Commenting on the PES statement, Mirković points out that the strongest party in the Montenegrin parliament "has long been using this type of excuse to avoid confrontation, name-calling and responsibility."
"If anyone is trying to stage a manipulative show, it is the largest parliamentary group in the Parliament. It is obvious that this is an inept way for them to hide their own mistakes and incompetence, as well as their failure to fulfill their promises. From the beginning of the Government until today, in which PES has the most staff, this has become one of the most non-transparent Governments, which obviously also characterizes the work of the MPs of this party."
Irresponsible towards citizens
Mirković believes that participating in committees in accordance with party interests is an irresponsible approach to the job for which both ruling and opposition MPs were elected:
"I had the opportunity to attend a session of the Committee on European Integration, the main topics of which were the Reform Agenda, but also the controversial agreements with the UAE. Opposition MPs sought to challenge and review the Government's decisions, while the only representative of the parliamentary majority party barely graced the Committee with her presence. She only stayed long enough to poorly read a pre-prepared speech in support of the Government's decision and left the session, leaving no opportunity for any of her opposition colleagues to ask her a question or for any of the guests from the EU Delegation or the civil sector," he recalls, adding that this is "a worryingly poor attitude towards both the institution of the Parliament and all other stakeholders."
Questions without controversy
Bošnjak also recalls that the head of parliament, Andrija Mandić, took advantage of the situation when some opposition MPs were disrupting the work of the legislative chamber to interrupt the session, leaving questions addressed to ministers without discussion.
"We also had a case, which went rather unnoticed, where the Speaker of the Parliament even gave himself the right to close the session before the parliamentary questions even came up, even though the MPs had properly asked them and had the right to debate with the ministers. But all that passes."
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