For the election of high-ranking local officials, secretaries of secretariats, directors of directorates and administrations, it will be sufficient to have a VI degree of education (bachelor's degree), while heads of services hierarchically below them, at the second level of government, will have to have a higher VII1 degree of education.
This is stated in the draft Law on Local Servants and Employees, prepared by a working group of the Ministry of Public Administration.
For the third level of local government, the head of a professional service will require a VI level of education, and for the fourth level of government, where there are assistants to the heads of local government bodies and assistants to the heads of special services, the draft foresees a VII1 level of education.
All four levels of government have so far required a VII1 level of education. So, if this law comes into effect, a lower level of education will be required for the election of officials at the higher level of local government, while a higher level of education will be required for officials at the three levels of government below them.
Municipal secretaries, directors of directorates and administrations are in practice appointed based on political agreements and quotas of the parties that take over local government, although both the current law and this draft provide for formal political neutrality in their selection. According to the Law on Local Self-Government, they are elected through a public competition.
At the end of last year, a draft Law on Civil Servants and State Employees was prepared, which also lowered the education criterion for high-ranking state officials, secretaries of ministries, directors of directorates and administrations, heads of bodies and services, etc. from VII1 to VI.
In the draft Law on Local Servants and Employees, the working group uses the same reasoning for lowering the required educational criteria for high-ranking local officials.
"Taking into account the change in the education system, according to which there is no longer a level of education qualification VII1, the proposed amendments to this law prescribe a level of education qualification VI for all positions within the civil service categories, which is how the system is harmonized. This will also enable a greater number of candidates to access the state administration, i.e. after three years of studies and acquired experience, candidates will be able to apply for advertisements or competitions," the explanation states.
This explanation is exactly the same as in the draft Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, although there is a difference that for all high-ranking state officials they have lowered the level of education to level VI, while in the draft Law on Local Servants and State Employees the existing level of education VII1 for officials at the second and fourth levels of government is maintained, although in the explanation they claim that in the current education system there is no longer a VII1 level of qualifications.
Also, in the draft Law on Local Servants and Employees, the required level of education for officials, the chief city architect and the municipal manager, remains VII1.
The draft reduces the level of education from VII1 to VI for expert and managerial staff - chief, manager, boss, coordinator, as well as independent and senior advisors and inspectors.
The sixth level of education is the so-called bachelor's degree, which is obtained after three years of schooling, and is "produced" by a large number of private faculties in Montenegro and neighboring countries.
The explanation does not explain why the current requirement of level VII for senior municipal management in the law was not translated into new terms of four-year or five-year higher education, but rather the educational criteria were lowered.
In September, the Ministry of Public Administration announced a public call for consultation with the interested public regarding the preparation of the Draft Law on Local Servants and Employees.
Regarding the previous draft of the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, the Union of Administration and Judiciary, which had a representative in the working group for amending the law, announced that this amendment on lowering professional qualifications was not agreed upon by the working group.
The president of this branch union Nenad Rakočević He said that they are against such changes because they further undermine the functioning of the public administration system, make education meaningless and enable the advancement of personnel with dubious diplomas, and that these changes are motivated only by narrow political interests.
"The requirement for the level of education qualification for the above-mentioned personnel positions to be the sixth level of education or a three-year bachelor's degree is the introduction of generally known very dubiously acquired degrees to positions that would cover the highest state functions. Instead of finally starting to sort out the situation in higher education, through a legal means, a bachelor's degree, which in Montenegro represents a diploma of the first level of higher education, lasting three academic years, or a total of 180 ECTS, all future and current generations are being stimulated, so that with this level of education, they can very easily, through political affiliation or some nepotistic way, sit in the chairs of the most important state decision-makers," Rakočević told "Vijesti" at the time.
They are banning politics for local officials just like before.
The draft law stipulates that local officials must be politically neutral in their work, adhere to the public interest, and refrain from expressing political beliefs during working hours.
"A local civil servant or employee shall perform his/her duties in a politically neutral and impartial manner, in accordance with the public interest. A local civil servant or employee shall refrain from publicly expressing his/her political beliefs during working hours," the draft law states.
Violation of this provision is considered a serious breach of official duty, for which, if proven, the penalty is a reduction in salary by 20 to 40 percent for a period of two to six months, and in the case of a repeat or serious breach of the article of the law, termination of employment is possible.
Similarly, the law on local self-government now states: "Political organizing in local government bodies is prohibited. A local civil servant or employee shall perform his duties politically neutrally and impartially, in accordance with the public interest, and shall refrain from publicly expressing his political beliefs."
Although political parties publicly announce quotas for the distribution of official positions in local governments after local elections.
According to the draft law, it will still be prohibited to "place a local civil servant or employee in a privileged or unequal position in the exercise of his or her rights and obligations, or to deny or limit his or her rights, especially due to political, national, racial, sexual or religious affiliation or on the basis of another personal characteristic."
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