Bajramspahić: Withdrawing three laws avoided causing enormous damage to the negotiation process

By withdrawing the Law on Public Gatherings and Public Events, the Law on Internal Affairs, and the Law on the National Security Agency at the last moment, enormous damage to the negotiation process and the overall human rights situation in Montenegro was avoided.

This was announced to "Vijesti" by civic activist Dina Bajramspahić.

"All three laws belong to the first cluster in the 'Basics' negotiations and it is very worrying that instead of improving, they are working to reduce the freedoms that have been won, guaranteed by the Constitution and international conventions. Additionally, the authoritarian imposition of problematic and repressive solutions, without public debates for the citizens of Montenegro and consultations with the European Union when it comes to key laws, is questionable. If the aforementioned draft laws had been adopted, it would have been the greatest democratic setback since 2006," said Bajramspahić.

She pointed out that the Law on Internal Affairs is the most important law in Chapter 24 "Justice, Freedom, Security" and that its adoption would lead to a lower rating in the European Commission's annual report, which would slow down the overall negotiations.

"The impression is that the Government is moving away from implementing difficult reforms and is instead deleting those reforms that the authorities reluctantly adopted before 2020, in order to be completely relieved of the obligation to comply with European standards. It is necessary for the Government to change course as soon as possible, return to transposing the European acquis, harmonizing reforms with the European and Venice Commissions, and refrain from imposing repressive laws that violate human rights, otherwise it will seriously jeopardize Montenegro's European future," said Bajramspahić.