Local government leaders at meeting with Šarec: The voice of the Union of Municipalities must be more respected at the central level

The voice of the Association of Municipalities of Montenegro must be more respected at the central level and it must be more involved in the preparation of legal solutions, is the joint message from the meeting of the leaders of Montenegrin local governments with the European Parliament rapporteur for Montenegro, Marjan Šarec, which was held today in Podgorica.

As announced by the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro, Šarec pointed out that as a former mayor, he is very familiar with the problems faced by local level leaders, assessing that a greater degree of involvement of municipalities in the adoption of legal solutions would contribute to reducing tensions and easier implementation of legal acts.

"Municipalities are the ones that need to implement all decisions on their territory. There are a lot of unresolved issues, but the main message and the main wish of the municipal presidents is for the Union of Municipalities to be more involved in the preparation of laws. I got the impression that it doesn't matter to them who is from which party, but that they have the means to be able to solve citizens' problems. That's the essence of it all. Citizens are not interested in which party or political structure is in power, but that they have someone they can talk to and who solves their problems," said Šarec.

During the meeting, which, according to the Union of Municipalities, lasted more than two hours, the leaders of local governments spoke in detail about the problems they are facing, particularly emphasizing the inapplicability of the Law on Business Companies and the Law on Spatial Planning, as well as inadequate solutions from the Law on Forests, the Law on Maritime Domain and the Law on National Parks, which deprive municipalities of most of their jurisdiction over parts of their territory, as well as controversial solutions from the Law on Salaries of Public Sector Employees, the Law on Social and Child Protection, etc.

"They also made a number of objections to the Draft Law on Local Self-Government, as the umbrella law for this area, which, in their opinion, contains a number of unconstitutional solutions and, among other things, significantly derogates from the very function of the mayor of municipalities," the statement said.

President of the Board of Directors of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro and President of the Municipality of Žabljak Radoš Žugić thanked Šarec for recognizing the importance of the role of local self-government, especially when it comes to EU integration, and expressed his expectation that there will be more such constructive meetings in the coming period.

"In a friendly and extremely open atmosphere, we managed to at least partially introduce Mr. Šarec to the challenges we face. What we specifically highlighted as issues is spatial planning (the shortage of personnel - spatial planners, for whom special conditions are prescribed by law) and fiscal decentralization. We all share the view that decentralization in its final form must begin with fiscal decentralization because some local governments are unable to cope with the problems and obligations imposed on them through certain legal solutions unless financial resources are provided for their implementation," said Žugić.

The meeting was attended, as added, by Žugić, the Mayor of the Capital City of Podgorica Saša Mujović, the President of the Municipality of Plav Nihad Canović, the President of the Municipality of Zeta Nebojša Asanović, the President of the Municipality of Gusinje Sanel Balić, the President of the Municipality of Berane Đole Lutovac, the President of the Municipality of Budva Nikola Jovanović, the President of the Municipality of Herceg Novi Stevan Katić, the President of the Municipality of Rožaje Rahman Husović, the President of the Municipality of Pljevlja Dario Vraneš and the Secretary General of the Union of Municipalities Mišela Manojlović.