Konatar for "Vijesti": Constitutional judges should be elected without trade and blackmail

The election of Constitutional Court judges must not be the result of political bargaining and blackmail, but rather an agreement on the best candidates, said the head of the Civic Movement (GP) Parliamentary Group URA. Milos Konatar announcing that his party will not support the proposed budget for next year, as it serves only to "patch holes and expenses."

In an interview with "Vijesti", he said that negotiations on candidates for constitutional judges must be conducted before the decision of the Constitutional Committee, in order to avoid situations in which incompetent candidates are proposed and voting on the "take it or leave it" principle.

In the second round of voting, after the unsuccessful first round a month and a half ago, the Assembly elected on Tuesday Jovan Jovanovic for a judge of the Constitutional Court, while the remaining two candidates, Mirjana Radovic i Mirjana Vučinić, did not receive the necessary support. Jovanović and Radović were candidates of the parliamentary Constitutional Committee, and Vučinić was proposed by the President of the State Jakov MilatovicIt is expected that Milatović and the Constitutional Committee will issue new public calls for the election of one judge each to the Constitutional Court.

Speaking about the budget for next year, he said that it is the result of poor economic policy and irresponsible spending of all citizens' money. The URA will, he said, have numerous amendments, especially in the area of ​​child and social protection.

He announced that the URA will propose an “anti-mafia law” again this week and reiterated that he will support the PES proposal to reduce the amount of money for party financing, but expects the PES to support the URA GP proposal to increase child benefit payments.

On November 11, PES submitted amendments to the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns to the parliamentary procedure, which envisage a 50 percent reduction in funds for parties and independent parliamentary and councilor caucuses, with the aim of reallocating those funds to increase child allowances.

Why did the URA vote only for Mirjana Vučinić to be a judge of the Constitutional Court, and not for Jovan Jovanović and Mirjana Radović, and why, out of the four party representatives, only you participated in the decision-making?

During the first round of voting in the Assembly, I criticized the President of the State and the parliamentary majority for having to talk to the opposition in the process of nominating their candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court. This is normal functioning in parliamentary democracies - candidates must be discussed and attempts must be made to gain broad support.

The President accepted the criticism and held consultations where he further clarified the reasons for Ms. Vučinić's candidacy, while the parliamentary majority remained as frivolous as during the first vote. Unfortunately, the parliamentary majority also resulted in the result of the vote as it was.

How frivolous everything was is also shown by the fact that the parliamentary majority did not agree with the opposition on the timing of the vote, which would be normal, and because of this, a portion of the URA deputies were prevented from attending the vote for objective reasons.

What would have to happen for the URA to support the other two candidates? Did you discuss possible support for them with the ruling majority and did you have any conditions to "give up" for Jovanović and Radović?

We must discuss and propose the best candidates for judges of the Constitutional Court. It is important that these discussions take place before the Constitutional Committee determines the candidates, so that we do not end up in a situation where the parliamentary majority's candidate has not passed the bar exam and is voted for on a "take it or leave it" basis. Methods of blackmail, pressure, or political trading of positions and positions are not the way to elect judges of the Constitutional Court, at least not for the GP URA, and we have not and will not participate in such bad performances.

The URA has no problem talking to everyone when it comes to state interests, and the election of Constitutional Court judges and EU membership certainly do. I hope they are ready for that even in the parliamentary majority and that they have learned a lesson by now about how not to act.

What is your position on the proposed budget for next year and the planned borrowing? Will the URA support the adoption of the budget (why)?

The URA will not support this budget proposal for 2026, because it is not good and it will be a budget of patching up holes and expenses. Aside from the fact that the current 44th Government has violated the Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility every time it proposes a budget, this is only the second time in the last 20 years that the proposed budget is lower than last year's, by 250 million euros, which is a direct consequence of reduced economic growth from the projected 4,8% to 3,2% of GDP.

The government's budget proposal for 2026 means that there is nothing of a development story - we will have to patch up holes and costs. There is no money planned for increasing child benefits, nor for severance pay for workers. The deficit, minus the state Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO), will be 438 million euros, and to make matters even more worrying, the government has foreseen the possibility of borrowing up to 3,23 billion euros.

The proposed budget is a consequence of poor economic policy and irresponsible spending of all citizens' money, which we have pointed out many times before. All this was unfortunately confirmed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its latest report - Montenegro needs reforms in the economy and public finance system.

Will the URA GP submit amendments to the budget and what will they relate to?

The URA will have numerous amendments, especially in the area of ​​child and social protection - specifically for increasing child benefits, compensation for former employees of state-owned companies that went bankrupt, but also in the area of ​​the capital budget and infrastructure projects.

An important part of the amendment will also relate to the establishment of the state housing fund "Housing for All", which represents one of the important segments of our "Montenegro 365" program in the area of ​​housing policy and assistance to Montenegrin citizens who do not have a resolved housing issue, to purchase their first apartment on favorable terms.

Do you think that Finance Minister Novica Vuković's expectation that inflation will remain below three percent next year is realistic?

The Minister of Finance projected that the budget would compensate for the abolition of contributions to the state pension fund, so it is currently in the red by over 400 million euros. The IMF report confirmed that compensatory measures in the form of new taxes and excise duties did not compensate for the abolished contributions to the pension fund. Also, the Minister of Finance projected GDP growth at 4,8% instead of the 3,2% it will be, and that is not a small failure, but a very large and very expensive one. So far, we have not had any luck with the projections of the Minister of Finance and I am not happy about that, because all citizens of Montenegro are paying the price. Inflation is also largely a consequence of the wrong economic policy and the disruption of the business environment by the current Government.

URA announced its support for the PES proposal to reduce the amount of money for party financing, in order to reallocate those funds to increase child allowances, and then your leader Dritan Abazović announced that adopting that proposal would mean that the allowances would increase by three and a half euros. Regardless of the increase by that much, would URA vote to halve the parties' income?

URA will support the PES proposal to reduce the amount of money for party financing, and I also expect PES to support the URA proposal to increase child benefit payments, because that is an informal agreement that we have reached as colleagues. Vasilije Carapić, as the head of the PES parliamentary group and I have reached an agreement in public space - on social networks. An unusual place for an agreement, but again the public word obliges us to respect it. The URA proposal to increase child allowances is in line with an online petition by a group of citizens that has over 23 thousand signatures, which requests an increase in child allowances from 30 to 60 euros.

Due to the daily increase in prices starting from school equipment, food, kindergartens, extracurricular activities and other services related to children and parents, it is simply not enough to increase child allowances by just 3 or 4 euros as proposed by PES. Today, a monthly sports training for children is more than the allowance, not to mention going to the cinema or theater. That is precisely why the URA proposal is better because it can really help children and parents.

PES claims that they will support your proposal to increase child benefits if you secure the support of all in the opposition for reducing party funding. Have you spoken to your colleagues in the opposition and is there support for this?

PES is part of the majority, so they already have the necessary number of votes, and therefore they do not need the support of the opposition, and they certainly have the support of URA, as I said. I do not want to believe that this is some excuse by PES for the lack of support for our proposal to increase child allowances, but we will see everything very soon when the vote is held in the Parliament of Montenegro. In any case, URA will not give up on its proposal and we will continue to propose it until it is adopted, because it is necessary to increase child allowances.

URA has been advocating since 2015, first for the return of child allowances when Dritan Abazović was still an MP submitting proposals in the Parliament, and finally succeeded when URA and I personally were among the proponents of the reintroduction of child allowances in February and May 2021, as part of the government and the then parliamentary majority. Now is the time for child allowances to be increased due to the general rise in prices and inflation.

Senior official of the Police and Border Guard Service Filip Adžić said at the end of August that the three steps for a safer society are vetting, anti-mafia law and amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (so that those accused of the most serious crimes would not leave custody due to failure to issue first-instance verdicts), while you announced the submission of some of these proposals about ten days ago. What prevented your party from passing and implementing these regulations while it was in power?

The Anti-Mafia Law is the most important step and the URA will propose it to the Parliament of Montenegro again next week, as the 43rd Government of Dritan Abazović did in 2023. Today, we can regretfully state that it was a big mistake not to adopt this law more than two years ago, as it would have given the Prosecutor's Office even greater mechanisms to seize tens of millions of euros worth of assets acquired through crime in Montenegro. When it comes to vetting in the judiciary, it was the 43rd Government that first prepared the vetting models that needed to be discussed. Unfortunately, the new 44th Government was elected Milojko Spajić and vetting has not happened to this day. URA worked and proposed solutions both when it was in power and now when it is in opposition, and the adoption of amendments to the Law on the State Prosecutor's Office, which enabled the dismissal of (the former Chief Special Prosecutor), is particularly important. Milivoj Katnić and appointment Vladimir Novović at the head of the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), for which the most deserving were URA and Dritan Abazović.

Will your party support amendments to the Law on Foreigners (why)? What do you think about the proposals that foreigners, in order to be able to extend their stay for themselves and their families, must have active companies, regularly pay taxes, employ two Montenegrin citizens, and own real estate worth 200 thousand euros...?

Montenegro must be an open, liberal and civil state, and soon a member of the EU in which the laws apply equally to everyone. There must be no discrimination, neither among the citizens of Montenegro nor among our guests who want to reside here, work and respect the laws of our country. That is precisely why I do not consider the proposed amendments to the Law on Foreigners to be a good solution. Everyone must respect the law and pay taxes, but making it difficult for foreigners to establish companies or making their stay conditional on the value of the real estate they own is not good for the business environment, nor for Montenegro as an open society. And the institutions of this country have an obligation to ensure a safe and normal life for all citizens of Montenegro and our guests.

URA was close to forming a government in Podgorica at the end of last year with DPS, the European Alliance and the Movement for Podgorica, close to the head of state Jakov Milatović. At the same time, your party also sided with DPS and the European Alliance during the political crisis caused by the termination of Dragana Đuranović's position in the Constitutional Court. However, over time, you distanced yourself from them, and recently you refused to sign the DPS's proposal for an interpellation on the work of Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić. Where is GP URA on the political scene today if it is not in power and if it is not with the majority of the opposition? Does such a position, that you are not with either of them, endanger your party?

The citizens of Podgorica voted for change in the last local elections, and the fact that individuals later decided to trample on their own words and promises made to citizens for the sake of a few positions and chairs speaks both to the crisis of morality in politics today and to themselves as short-lived political phenomena. Every day I am more and more convinced that Podgorica, as the capital of Montenegro, does not deserve to be led by the people who are in power today - green areas are being concreted over, spatial plans are being adopted that are contrary to the interests of the city with a high probability of corruption, traffic chaos has unfortunately become an everyday occurrence, party recruitment and the appointment of incompetent party personnel to public positions are flourishing, while in the 21st century, as soon as the slightest rain falls, the water from the city's water supply system is not drinkable. I could list many more, and citizens can testify at every step and every day that political changes must happen in Podgorica.

URA stands by its values ​​- civic, European and ecological Montenegro, with an uncompromising fight against crime and corruption. Time has shown that we were absolutely right when we defended the Constitution regarding the judges of the Constitutional Court, as well as regarding many other bad things that the current Government and the parliamentary majority are doing. Cooperation with us is possible only with respect for the principles and interests of the state and citizens of Montenegro, and this is a point of convergence, not separation, for all who want to cooperate with GP URA.

Rotation continues, Radovanić new MP as of July 1st

When exactly will the rotation in parliament between you and your colleague Mileta Radovanić take place?

Mileta Radovanić will be the new MP of the Civic Movement URA in the Parliament from July 1st at the latest, which continues the process of introducing new people and personnel capacities that are part of our party. I am particularly pleased that we are doing all this by agreement, in a way that we continue to work together regardless of which of us will be in which position within URA. I really think that in this way we are sending a message to new, high-quality, young people that URA is an organization that is ready to give them a chance.