Yesterday, the Government gave ten days to the Assembly of the Municipality of Budva to temporarily remove the President of the Municipality Milo Božović, who is in custody in Spuz, adopt a strategic plan for the development of the Municipality and elect a maximum of two vice-presidents of the Municipality.
In the same period, the Municipality of Šavnik was warned that it must take measures against the Municipal Election Commission (MEC) in order to implement the decision of the State Election Commission, which ordered the MEC to make a decision on repeating voting at the polling stations - "Sala SO Šavnik" and "Kafana Kruševica" and strategic development plan of the Municipality.
And the Assembly of the Municipality of Andrijevica was warned that within ten days it must adopt a strategic plan for the development of the Municipality and decisions on proposals for the dismissal of the President of the Municipality of Andrijevica. Željko Ćulafić (SNP) and the President of the Municipal Assembly Mladen Đukić (Democrats).
Minister of Public Administration Marash Dukaj yesterday he said that local self-governments have autonomy, but that does not give them the right to be irresponsible and to limit or endanger the right of citizens to local self-government by not performing tasks within their jurisdiction. "We are taking decisive steps in order to establish the full functionality of the municipalities, first through warnings, in order to avoid the dissolution of the assemblies".
In the proposed decisions on warnings to the municipalities of Budva, Šavnik and Andrijevica, the Government states that the law stipulates that when the municipal assembly does not hold sessions for more than six months, does not execute the decisions of the competent courts or does not execute the obligations established by law, which prevents the exercise of citizens' rights or causes considerable material damage, the Government should warn the assembly to ensure the fulfillment of its functions within a certain period, i.e. fulfill the obligations established by law.
Minister of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property Janko Odović said after the Government session that if those three municipalities do not fulfill their obligations within that period, the Government will form a committee of creditors and temporarily take over the management of those local administrations.
"SO Budva is obliged to adopt a strategic plan for the development of the municipality, appoint a maximum of two vice-presidents and temporarily remove the president of the municipality of Budva, due to the acquisition of conditions for more than six months, etc... we all know what this is about", Odović said.
The Municipality of Budva told "Vijesti" yesterday that they have not received any guidelines from the Ministry of Public Administration as to what needs to be done in the next ten days. They stated that they had submitted to the competent Ministry the complete documentation that Dukaj requested, and it refers to the legality of the work of the detained President of the Municipality, Milo Božović.
SO Budva did not finish the 10th session of the local parliament within three months, which started on November 23, on the agenda of which was the election of the vice-president of the Municipality Jasna Dokić proposed by Božović.
Božović is obliged to the Municipal Assembly by March 31 to submit a work report for the previous year, which he practically spent in pre-trial detention from mid-April, from where he managed the administration, made decisions, signed millions of contracts with investors...
The Municipality told "Vijesti" that Dukaj was unable to read the complete document in the short time since the documentation on Božović's work was delivered to him.
As they stated, Dukaj demanded a list of regulations and other acts that the President of the Municipality submitted to the Municipal Assembly for adoption in 2023, with information on which acts were adopted and which were not, with an explanation as to why they were not.
A few days ago, Božović signed the official documents delivered to him in the detention cell after the High Court gave his consent. He also signed the answer to Dukaj, and the administration prepared the documents.
Odović said that the Municipality of Šavnik is obliged to implement certain measures in order to enable the Municipal Election Commission to hold elections in Šavnik and reminded that in Andrijevica it was not possible to vote on the removal of the municipal president on several occasions, so that Municipality was also warned to hold a session and vote about this proposal.
Local elections in Savnik began, as in 13 other Montenegrin municipalities, on October 23, 2022, but were not completed at two polling stations. The members of the polling committees from the coalition For the Future of Šavnik did not allow people who do not live in Šavnik and are registered in the voter's list to vote, so the elections were repeated nine times. Then the members of the MEC could not agree on calling new elections in those places where 541 voters were registered.
President of the municipality of Savnik Jugoslav Jakić (DPS) told "Vijesti" that today they will ask the Ministry for clarification on what it is actually about.
"I haven't seen a bigger beast in a long time. To fulfill the obligations established by law - which obligations, which deadline? "Which expert in the Ministry of Public Administration set a deadline of 10 days, and let's say the deadline for scheduling a municipal meeting is 15 days," Jakić said.
He said that "everyone is clear about what it is about" - that they are trying to forcibly take over power in the Municipality of Savnik.
"The Government's plan to solve the situation in the Municipality of Šavnik, despite the Constitution and the law, is all thanks to the parties that do not allow the elections that have started to be completed... There will certainly be an opportunity to discuss with Minister Dukaj how they will solve the issue of the elections in Šavnik by introducing enforcement authorities," Jakić said.
President of the Municipality of Andrijevica Željko Ćulafić (SNP) and the President of the Assembly Mladen Djukic (Democrats) yesterday did not respond to the calls and messages of "Vijesti", in order to explain how the Municipality will be determined according to the request of the Government.
In that municipality, temporary funding is in effect until the end of March, and regular elections should be held this year.
In July of last year, the DPS councilor club initiated the removal of the municipal president, but since then seven attempts to remove Ćulafić have failed, because the citizens interrupted the sessions, and the same happened during five attempts to vote of no confidence in the President of the Assembly.
"I haven't seen a bigger mess for a long time. To fulfill the obligations established by law - what obligations, what deadline? Which expert in the Ministry of Public Administration set a deadline of 10 days, and let's say the deadline for scheduling a municipal meeting is 15 days," Jakić said.
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