The European Union Councilors' Club in the Capital City Assembly submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court of Montenegro today to review the constitutionality of the decision to increase the price of water in Podgorica.
This was stated by the president of the European Union Councilors' Club, Miloš Mašković, during a press conference.
Water prices in Podgorica have increased by 40 percent since January, and citizens are now receiving these increased bills.
Mašković said that they did this "in order to protect the citizens of Podgorica from the illegal increase in the prices of water and other services, which the Podgorica 'Vodovod' began to implement on January 1st."
He pointed out that the local parliament did not give its consent, although, as he claims, this is a legal obligation.
"The decisions on price increases were made on June 27, 2024, but were only submitted to the Parliament at the end of October and beginning of November. Although the session was scheduled for November 11, 2024, it was not held due to a lack of quorum, which means that there was no decision on consent. 'Water Supply and Sewerage' interpreted this as consent being given, even though the legal deadline for decision-making had not even expired," said Mašković.
The lack of a quorum in the city parliament, said Mašković, does not mean "automatic approval".
"According to the law, if the Parliament does not make a decision within 90 days, consent can be considered given. That deadline expires only on January 29, 2025 for one price list and February 5, 2025 for the other. Since the deadline had not expired, 'Vodovod' did not have the right to apply the new prices from January XNUMX," he explained.
According to him, the Consumer Protection Act was also violated.
Mašković also said that it is important for the Constitutional Court to "react as soon as possible" and "annul such a decision."
"And to declare these decisions illegal, and to return water prices to the previous level. For the next session of the Capital City Assembly, we will initiate the withdrawal of the disputed decision. Irresponsible and poor management have led to this situation in the Water Supply Company," said Mašković.
European Union councilor Budimir Mugoša said that if "Vodovod" had reduced the number of employees or "anything in an economic sense," then the opposition would have understood the increase in water prices.
European Union official Miloš Đuričković pointed out that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić's statement contradicts what his partners are doing.
"It is obvious that even after September 29th, we have a dysfunctional ruling majority," Đuričković pointed out.
The decision to increase prices was previously made by the Regulatory Agency for Energy and Regulated Utilities, which "Vijesti" wrote about in October last year.
On February 6, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced that he would launch an offensive for shifts at Podgorica's Waterworks if the company does not release the tender for the road, sewage and electricity for the Velje Brdo project by February 15.
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He then stated in a tweet that the Podgorica Water Company had raised prices despite the warning.
"Not only did they raise prices despite our warning, but they are completely inefficient - they are the bottleneck of the Velje Brdo project and are constantly holding up the unified tender for the road, water, sewage and electricity. If they don't unblock the project by February 15th - I will launch an offensive for shifts there," Spajić wrote.
Spajić previously denied that there would be an increase in water prices.
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