The European Commission's (EC) report on Montenegro for this year was written in a recognizably optimistic and diplomatically cautious tone, which is in line with the European Union's (EU) current commitment to encouraging the country's progress towards membership, the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) assessed.
CDT Program Director Milica Kovačević said that beneath that carefully crafted language and diplomatic formulations, it is clearly visible that Brussels recognizes the same chronic problems that civil society in Montenegro has been warning about for years.
As she stated, if the institutions had listened more seriously to civil society, some of the criticism now coming from Brussels could have been avoided.
"We hope that this report will finally be taken seriously, not as confirmation of propaganda optimism, but as a call to realistically consider the achievements and limitations of the reforms so far," said Kovačević.
She stated that the EC has concluded that the strategic documents, which were adopted during the preparation for obtaining IBAR, are not being implemented to the planned extent.
As Kovačević said, the report states that "some of the activities planned for last year were not fully implemented" within the framework of the Judicial Reform Strategy, and a similar assessment applies to the Anti-Corruption Strategy, whose implementation "remains a challenge."
"The CDT, even when they were adopted, warned that these documents were of insufficient quality and insufficiently ambitious, and now we see that even they are not being implemented consistently and within the stipulated deadlines," said Kovačević.
She said that, in the area of justice, the EC demands that the recommendations of the Venice Commission (VC) be implemented without delay and reiterates objections that have been known for years but are not being addressed, such as the composition of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Councils, the spatial and technical capacities of the judiciary, as well as the independence, efficiency and professionalism of the judiciary.
The EC, Kovačević added, warned that open criticism and personal attacks on the Supreme State Prosecutor and members of the Prosecutorial Council in the Parliament "raise serious concerns about possible undue influence and risks to the autonomy of the prosecution."
"CDT has been warning for a long time about the government's desire to maintain political control over independent institutions - a phenomenon that has also been recognized by the EC," Kovačević stated.
She said that, when it comes to electoral reform, the EC confirmed everything that the CDT had publicly warned about throughout the entire process - that the reform was implemented in a non-transparent manner, without real consultations and with only partially fulfilled recommendations from the VK, OSCE/ODIHR and GRECO.
According to Kovačević, although the electoral reform was presented as an important step towards fulfilling obligations, in reality it was implemented in a hurry and without the opinion of expert bodies.
"That is precisely why Brussels notes today that electoral legislation is still not aligned with European standards on inclusive, transparent and resilient electoral processes, that "effective guarantees against the misuse of state resources are lacking", and that the framework for financing political parties and campaigns must be further amended to ensure real control of party expenses and introduce dissuasive sanctions," added Kovačević.
She said the report clearly points to both political and institutional instability that is slowing down reforms.
As Kovačević stated, the report clearly states that the public administration reform is progressing slowly and with insufficient results.
"Although it is noted that the new Law on Civil Servants and Employees is a step forward, it is emphasized that there is no precise data on the number of employees, their engagement and competencies, which is why there is no clear picture of the capacities of the civil service," said Kovačević.
She said that in the report, the EC also confirmed the criticisms of civil society regarding the reduced transparency of the Government's work and the inefficient system for exercising the right to access information, including the Government's practice of making decisions via telephone sessions.
"At the same time, the law on free access to information is still awaiting adoption, while cases are piling up before the Administrative Court due to the administration's silence. Such a practice, which civil society is constantly warning about, shows that the right to access information in Montenegro exists only formally," Kovačević stated.
She recalled that the EC's report warns of the spread of disinformation, hate speech and radical content, assessing that the institutional response remains weak and uncoordinated.
"The report clearly indicates that Montenegro does not yet have a sustainable system for preventing radicalization. It particularly points to the lack of a strategy and institutional instability, as the fourth national coordinator for combating extremism and terrorism has been appointed in three years," said Kovačević.
She said that the EC's assessment that Montenegro must significantly strengthen its response to disinformation and hate speech, accelerate harmonisation with European digital and media laws and "close the space for foreign influences and information manipulation" confirms the CDT's long-standing warnings about the lack of a sustainable response to disinformation, extremism and malign foreign influence.
The report, Kovačević added, points out that Montenegro has not yet harmonized its visa policy with EU policy, and recalls that full harmonization is the final benchmark under Chapter 24.
"The Commission is asking that this be done "without delay", to abolish visa exemptions that are not in line with EU policies," said Kovačević, stating that the Government is also implementing this segment of reforms without analysis, public debate and consultations with the expert and international community.
She said that the EC notes that cooperation with civil society in Montenegro is mostly reduced to formal consultations without real dialogue, and warns of examples of statements by public officials that discredit the work and reputation of human rights activists.
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