The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) announced today that opposition MPs have submitted a proposal to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro for the assessment of the constitutionality and legality of Article 100 of the Law on Climate Change.
As stated by that party, members of the Parliament of Montenegro Nikola Milović, Nikola Rakočević, Mihailo Anđušić, Zoja Bojanić Lalović, Sonja Popović, Nikola Zirojević, Adrijan Vuksanović, Mehmed Zenka submitted the proposal, believing that this provision grossly violates the basic constitutional principles of legal certainty, the prohibition of retroactive effect of laws, and equality of subjects before the law.
"The disputed article stipulates that free emission credits, acquired on the basis of the previous legal framework, cease to be valid on May 1, 2026, which directly infringes on the legally acquired rights of economic entities, without the existence of a clearly defined public interest, proportionality and legal basis. Within this framework, Uniprom Aluminum Plant Podgorica legally acquired the right to free emission credits, which it used for ecological reconstruction and improvement of production processes, which significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions," the DPS statement states.
The party adds that the selective and retroactive cancellation of already acquired emission credits, without a clear and justified public interest, represents not only a legally problematic move, but also a direct attack on the state's environmental policy with an obvious political goal - destroying the business of one of the rare representatives of Montenegrin industry.
"Such a decision renders meaningless the basic goal of the ETS system - reducing total emissions through market mechanisms, encouraging investments in clean technologies and preventing the relocation of energy-intensive industry outside Montenegro. Additionally, such action raises a serious issue of discrimination against only one economic entity, namely Uniprom and the Aluminum Plant, which have complied with the rules, invested in ecology and reduced pollution. Ultimately, such a decision is a serious threat to the public interest because it directly affects the health of the citizens of Zeta and Podgorica and threatens to repeat the Pljevlja scenario," the statement states.
They also said that they recall that Montenegro, as part of the European integration process and obligations assumed under the Stabilization and Association Agreement, has established a national emissions trading system (ETS), in accordance with the acquis communautaire and the rules of the Energy Community Secretariat.
"This system has been confirmed as functional and in line with European standards by the Energy Community. In the proposal, the MPs pointed out that emission credits have economic value and the legal character of property, and that their abolition represents a violation of the right to peaceful enjoyment of property, guaranteed by the Constitution of Montenegro and Protocol 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights," said the DPS.
They added that due to the risk of irreparable damage, it was also proposed that the Constitutional Court adopt a temporary measure suspending the application of Article 100 of the Climate Change Act, pending a final decision on its constitutionality.
"Finally, we emphasize that environmental protection cannot be built on legal uncertainty, retroactivity and selective application of laws, because in the long term this leads to greater pollution, less investor confidence and Montenegro moving away from the European standards it aspires to," the statement concludes.
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