The administrative board decided that the legal conditions for the dismissal of Mehmet Bardhi from the position of member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for Minorities, based on the initiative submitted by the Civic Alliance, had not been met.
With the new Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, MPs no longer have the right to be members of administrative boards and governing bodies of institutions.
"When the Commission for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest makes a final decision whether or not the law has been violated by Bardhi still being on the Fund's Board of Directors. We can start the process of resolution or non-resolution", said the president of the Administrative Board, Radivoje Nikčević.
Bardhi, however, said that he does not perceive the initiative of the Civic Alliance as benevolent, considering that it represents an attack on the Fund for Minorities and National Councils, as well as the Assembly of Montenegro.
"I don't know whose interest it is to lower the Assembly to the lowest level. Trees and stones are thrown at the Fund for Minorities. So far, I am not in a conflict of interest with any act, neither physical nor administrative. The initiators of my dismissal did not receive money for their projects, so now they are angry with us," said Bardhi.
The MP cannot be in the UO
The coordinator of the Civic Alliance, Milan Radović, rejected such a claim, reminding that according to the new law, MPs cannot be members of management boards.
"I am sorry that Bardhi took this initiative personally and presented a series of interpretations of this initiative. He politicized our initiative, he talked about the fact that we are doing all this because we did not receive money, which is completely untrue. It is about the fact that we want to make a small contribution to the regulation of this area, respect for the law," said Radović.
Commenting on Bardhi's claim that he is not in a conflict of interest because, as he said, he was appointed to the Board of the Fund by the Assembly, Radović said that "it is extremely logical that if you consider and evaluate your work, you are in a conflict of interest".
"We will not be able to have deputies in the Supervisory Board, if we want to go towards the EU. He says that our initiative is incorrect and that it undermines the dignity of the assembly, and I think that it is the opposite and that by remaining in the Supervisory Board, despite the opinion that the deputies are in a conflict of interest if they remain in the Supervisory Board, then Bardhi undermines the dignity of the parliament much more," he said. said Radović, emphasizing that the Administrative Committee had a reason to discuss the initiative to dismiss Bardhi, because the other MPs resigned in order not to violate the law.
Bardhi is the only remaining member of the Board of Directors of the Fund for Minorities. The Assembly recently noted the resignations of other MPs who were in that body, which they had to submit in accordance with the amendments to the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest. According to that act, from November 1, MPs cannot be in administrative committees. Bardhi refused to resign, explaining that the law applies only to the boards of directors of public companies and not to the Fund for Minorities.
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