Spajić "skips" the prime minister's watch again

Head of government Milojko Spajic He will not attend the prime minister's meeting scheduled by the speaker of parliament on Friday. Andrija Mandic, because he will be in Brussels that day at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) with the European Union (EU), "Vijesti" has learned unofficially.

According to the newspaper, it has been proposed that the Prime Minister's Hour be held on Monday (June 30th).

Mandić scheduled a prime minister's meeting on June 18th, immediately after the Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic announced that the IGC will be held on June 27. The Assembly and the executive branch are in joint communication to agree on the date of that session, and the last one was held three months ago, on March 26. Spajić's government, as well as the parliamentary majority, regularly face criticism from the opposition that the Prime Minister's Hour is not held often enough, and that the control role of the parliament is being undermined as a result.

Head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Andrija Nikolić He announced last week at the Parliament session that "parliamentary oversight over the work of the executive branch currently does not exist."

"This behavior of the parliament and the government completely undermines all democratic principles. Regular holding of the Prime Minister's Hour and parliamentary questions is not just a business obligation, it is a basic prerequisite for the functioning of democratic procedures, so that citizens can gain insight into the work of the executive branch," said Nikolić.

“Vijesti” reported in early June that Mandić proposed at the collegium of the President of the Parliament to amend the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament so that the Prime Minister’s Hour would be held in the last week of each month of the regular (autumn and spring) session of the Parliament, but his idea was rejected. “Vijesti” sources from the collegium session said that this was not done because accepting Mandić’s proposal would narrow the space for holding the Prime Minister’s Hour (due to the Prime Minister’s obligations abroad, public holidays, potential extraordinary events, etc.).

The interlocutors said that another solution was proposed at the collegium - that the legislative chamber "force" the president and ministers to come to parliament by "punishing" the government by not including its acts in the procedure if they fail to do so.

The Rules of Procedure stipulate that the Prime Minister's Hour is held once a month during the regular session. The autumn session lasts from the first working day in October to the last working day in December, and the spring session from the first working day in March to the last working day in July. In order to meet the "quota" set by the Rules of Procedure, it is necessary to have three Prime Minister's Hours during the autumn session, and five during the spring session.

In mid-June, Spajić, when asked when he would answer questions from MPs, said that he would come when "some of the decisions that the Government submitted to Parliament back in August or September of last year are adopted."

Commenting on allegations about possible mechanisms for sanctioning members of the executive branch for disrespecting the highest legislative chamber, Spajić said that "MPs should first sanction themselves."

"First they need to sanction themselves for not adopting things that the state has been waiting for for over a year, and then we will talk about sanctioning others," the Prime Minister said.

Prime Minister regularly attends intergovernmental conferences

Montenegro will close Chapter 5 (public procurement) on Friday, and Spajić attended all three intergovernmental conferences with the EU last year (in January, June and December).

Negotiations with the EU began on June 29, 2012, and so far all negotiation chapters have been opened, while six have been temporarily closed.

At the last Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels on December 16, the country temporarily closed three negotiation chapters - Chapter 7 (intellectual property), Chapter 10 (information society and media), and Chapter 20 (entrepreneurship and industrial policy).

The closure of Chapter 31 (foreign, security and defense policy) was then blocked by Croatia, after relations between the two countries deteriorated.