Šaranović: The law can be adopted, with the obligation to harmonize the part related to data protection

The Law on Internal Affairs can be adopted, with the obligation to harmonize the part related to the protection of personal data, after the adoption of the new Law on Data Protection, said Minister of Internal Affairs Danilo Šaranović, adding that this is also foreseen in the Government's amendment.

Šaranović said that, despite attempts at pale manipulative interpretations of the statement by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) regarding the draft law on internal affairs and the National Security Agency, the statement further confirmed everything that had been said previously.

"The EU delegation confirmed that the draft laws have been harmonized with the European Commission and that only the part of the Law on Internal Affairs relating to the protection of personal data needs to be harmonized with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the LED (Law Enforcement Directive) after their adoption, as provided for in Amendment 12," said Šaranović.

He reminded that the EU Delegation's statement states - "We have indicated to Montenegro two options: either harmonizing these provisions with the EU acquis before adopting the law or adopting the law and harmonizing the provisions before completing the accession negotiations."

"Therefore, it has been clearly stated that the Law on Internal Affairs can be adopted with the obligation of harmonization provided for in Amendment 12 (Article 214b), which prescribes the obligation to harmonize the Law on Internal Affairs after the adoption of the new Law on Data Protection, which I stated at the Committee on Political System, Judiciary and Administration," said Šaranović.

As he said, the 12 amendments submitted to the Law on Internal Affairs are the result of months of coordination with the relevant directorates of the European Commission, which is reflected in the statement of the EU Delegation, which testifies that the draft law is not being disputed, but rather what is prescribed by Amendment 12 is being emphasized, which is the need for coordination with the GDPR and LED after their adoption.

Šaranović stated that it was inept manipulation to say in the Parliament that the final criterion for Chapter 24 was the adoption of amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs.

"On the other hand, I firmly stand by my position that there can be no closure of Chapter 24 without urgent amendments to the Law, because numerous obligations prescribed by the final benchmarks cannot be fulfilled without the adoption of the Law," said Šaranović.

He said that the first thing he meant was creating legal prerequisites that a person with a fourth level of education (high school) can start working in the police.

"Our obligation is to provide 1,9 thousand police officers in the border police alone. Today we have only 900 of them, of which as many as 600 will meet the retirement requirements in the next 18 months," added Šaranović.

As he stated, it is clear to everyone that this is not possible with the current law, which stipulates that employment in the police can only be established with a college or university degree.

"In the end, there is no ambiguity here. It is clear what is whose agenda, and to those who think that the reform processes, strengthening the security sector and the fight against crime will stop, I say that they are nothing more than a small stone on the path to establishing the absolute rule of law in Montenegro," concluded Šaranović.