NGO Group: Administrative Board to make available documentation of all candidates for RTCG Council members

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Media Center, Media Institute of Montenegro (IMCG), Center for Civic Education (CCE), Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN-CG), Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro, Ul Info, Bijelo Polje Democratic Center and NOVA - Center for Feminist Culture, call on the Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro to make the documentation of all candidates available to the public before continuing the process of appointing members of the RTCG Council.

This is stated in a joint statement by these NGOs, signed by Goran Đurović, Media Center, Olivera Nikolić, Media Institute of Montenegro (IMCG), Daliborka Uljarević, Center for Civic Education (CCE), Milka Tadić Mijović, Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN-CG), Mila Radulović, Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro, Mustafa Canka, Ul Info, Zdravko Janjušević, Bijelo Polje Democratic Center and Nataša Novović, NOVA - Center for Feminist Culture.

The joint statement was delivered by the Media Center.

"We express doubts about the correctness of the documentation of the non-governmental organizations that proposed Veselin Drljević as a member of the RTCG Council, bearing in mind that there is no publicly available data on the implemented activities or financial reports of the majority of these organizations. We would like to remind you that the procedure for electing four new members of the RTCG Council was delayed by 45 days. The intention was obvious to enter a race against time, given that the mandate of the four current members expires on June 11. It was precisely this deadline that was used at yesterday's session as an argument to not allow interested opposition MPs to thoroughly check the documentation of all candidates," the statement states.

The NGO group added that the majority in the Administrative Committee yesterday showed that this process is significantly politicized.

"This is indicated by the information according to which the act on the nomination of certain candidates, including Veselin Drljević, does not indicate which category of authorized proposers the candidacy comes from, i.e. whether it is proposed by organizations operating in the field of human rights or in the field of media. This information is not a formality, but the basis for checking the legality of the complete documentation and without it, that documentation cannot be considered complete. Namely, only on the basis of this information is it possible to determine whether the proposing organizations meet the legal requirements, i.e. whether their statutes confirm their activities in the relevant field and whether they have implemented activities in that field in the previous three years whose annual funding amounted to at least 2.000 euros," the NGO Group said in a statement.

It is stated that, in addition, the majority in the Administrative Board showed inconsistency in the application of the criteria, because, as the statement says, it ignored the fact that the documents nominating Veselin Drljević, as well as certain other candidates, did not state which governing body of the non-governmental organization made the decision on candidacy.

"We recall that the same Administrative Board, just a few months ago, annulled the competition for the election of members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services precisely because the documentation of candidates Dragoljub Vuković and Niko Martinović did not indicate which organ of the organization had made the decision on the candidacy. If the majority of MPs in the Administrative Board had applied the same standard in this procedure, the only candidates with complete documentation would have been Vladan Mićunović and Olivera Nikolić," said the NGO group.

They state that although the law does not provide for a public hearing of candidates for members of the RTCG Council, the Administrative Board decided to organize such a procedure on June 9, explaining that it wants to increase the transparency of the process.

"We call on the president and members of the Committee to consistently apply this principle and provide insight into the complete documentation of all candidates during the same session, both for candidates and interested MPs. Only in this way can serious doubts be dispelled that the process is politically driven with the aim of installing politically suitable so-called NGO representatives into the RTCG Council," said the NGO Group.

The statement states that on May 18, the Media Center submitted a request for free access to information to the Parliament of Montenegro, requesting complete documentation from all organizations that proposed candidates for the RTCG Council, and that the Parliament's response has not been submitted to date.

"If a detailed and independent verification of documentation is not possible before the end of the procedure, it will be difficult to avoid the conclusion that the Parliament's service selectively applied the rules and acted in favor of candidates close to the parties of the parliamentary majority," the joint statement by the NGO group states.

The Administrative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro yesterday established a list of candidates for the Radio Television Council of Montenegro (RTCG), who will be presented to the deputies at the next session of that working body. This is Pavle Radovanović, who was proposed by the Chamber of Commerce, while the contenders for membership on behalf of media organizations are the director of the Media Institute, Olivera Nikolić, and the current president of the RTCG Council, Veselin Drljević.

Vladan Mićunović and Amar Škrijelj are candidates from the civil sector dealing with the protection of human rights, while Radenko Lacmanović was proposed by the Montenegrin Olympic Committee and the Montenegrin Paralympic Committee.

Nikolić was nominated by five NGOs, and Veselin Drljević by 25, but after verification it was determined that there were 21 valid proposals. Mićunović was initially nominated by 23 NGOs, but two were found not to be in accordance with the regulations. Škrijelj, from an initial 35, received support from 24 NGOs after verification.