European Commission: We will closely monitor the implementation of the law on internal affairs and the National Security Agency (ANSA).

The European Commission (EC) has received a letter from the heads of the opposition party caucuses in the Parliament of Montenegro and will respond in due course, Brussels announced, as reported by RTCG.

The Commission expects that police employment will be based on merit and that dismissals will be based on justified reasons, the public service portal writes.

A spokesperson for the European Commission says that the European Union institution is aware of the proposed amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs and the Law on the National Security Agency in Montenegro, as well as the concerns expressed by civil society and trade unions.

"The Commission has been consulted on two draft laws and considers that the data protection provisions of both laws are not yet fully aligned with the EU acquis, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Law Enforcement Directive (LED). To this end, Montenegro should align these provisions with the EU acquis either before adopting the law or adopt the law and align the provisions before the closure of accession negotiations. This is an additional reason to move swiftly with a comprehensive data protection reform in Montenegro," the EC spokesperson said.

In the meantime, the European Commission will, they say, carefully monitor the implementation of the law.

"The EC in particular expects the authorities to implement merit-based recruitment in the police and to establish appropriate procedural safeguards. It also expects Montenegro to ensure that any dismissal is based on justified reasons and that the persons concerned have access to all legal remedies," the European Commission spokesperson stressed.