Mikić: Our EU partners confirmed that the Government and relevant ministries have been misleading MPs and the public for months

The European Commission today clearly confirmed what we have been warning about, that the proposed Law on Internal Affairs and the Law on the National Security Agency are not fully aligned with the EU acquis and that their adoption is not a condition for fulfilling the final benchmarks under Chapter 24, thus our EU partners confirmed that the Government and line ministries have been misleading Montenegrin MPs and the domestic public for months, said Zoran Mikić, MP of the Civic Movement (GP) URA in the Parliament of Montenegro.

He pointed out that the European Commission's position on the two aforementioned laws definitely undermined the authorities' accusations that anyone who criticized these solutions was against the European Union.

"On the contrary, defending European standards means advocating for: legality, transparency, protection of human rights and protection of personal data. The attempts of the ruling majority to use the European agenda for manipulative purposes are shameful," Mikić said.

The MP GP URA noted that it was clear to everyone from the beginning that the proposed laws on the ANB and internal affairs with amendments were aimed at reaching the party commission, to apply the laws retroactively, and thus to leave people without jobs, without the right to defense and without the right to appeal, to interfere with citizens' personal data and numerous other controversial provisions of the aforementioned laws that are not in line with European norms and principles.

"This clearly shows how much the government is manipulating the European agenda for its own political goals. If they continue to push through these laws, despite the warning from the European Commission, they will prove that they do not care about European standards and the credibility of Montenegro. After such a reaction, the only thing left is for the Government to withdraw the laws on the National Security Agency and internal affairs from the procedure and first harmonize them with the EU acquis, and only then put them back into the procedure through a transparent and inclusive approach," Mikić concluded.