The European Commission (EC) said that Montenegro needs to make quick progress in the drafting of amendments to the legislation on the financing of political parties, so that its report to the EU members, which would pave the way for the closing of some negotiation chapters, would be "convincing".
"This would give important momentum to the accession process and enable the European Commission to present a convincing report to the member states in the upcoming period on the assessment of the fulfillment of the temporary criteria for the rule of law (IBAR)", it was announced the day before yesterday on the X order of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) in Montenegro.
In this context, the EU delegation also mentioned the election of the President of the Supreme Court.
It is obvious that the EU Delegation demands that the Parliamentary Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform prioritize the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns in its work.
The functioning of the Board is questionable because the Democratic Party of Socialists has threatened to leave it if the Government sends forced administration to Šavnik, where the October 2022 elections have not yet been completed. Committee co-chairman Vasilije Čarapić (PES) recently called for a political dialogue on the situation in Šavnik on Monday.
By the end of April, the Montenegrin authorities need to fulfill a number of temporary benchmarks, among which are changes to laws in the area of the judiciary, the media and the adoption of strategies in the area of the fight against corruption and organized crime.
For chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom and security), there are a total of 83 temporary benchmarks, of which, according to recent informal assessments by the European Commission, 31 are unfulfilled.
According to the new 2020 accession methodology, accepted by Montenegro, if the transitional benchmarks for key chapters 23 and 24 are not met, no other chapter will be able to be closed. Montenegro has opened all 2012 chapters of the EU negotiations since 33 and for that period, and temporarily closed only three. "Vijesti" sources from the Government and diplomatic circles claim that the EC will "see through the fingers" of Montenegro if it does not meet all the criteria.
It is possible that the public mention of the rapid drafting of legislation on party financing and the election of the Supreme Court president is a condition without which a positive IBAR cannot be obtained, an interlocutor involved in the negotiation process told "Vijesta".
In the EC report for 2023, it is written that Montenegro has still not improved the legal framework that regulates the financing of political parties, partly due to the lack of will of the political parties represented in the parliament itself.
"No progress has been made... in solving key issues related to the reform of the electoral legislation, voter list, financing of political entities and election campaigns, residence registers, code of ethics for election campaigns, and proposals for strengthening the professionalism and transparency of the work of the State Election Commission ( SEC) and the Anti-Corruption Agency (ABK). In the absence of a comprehensive reform, the SEC has implemented improvements in areas under its exclusive jurisdiction and increased the overall transparency of its work. However, the politicization of the SEC prevents it from performing the role of an independent election management body.
It is stated that no progress has been made in fulfilling the recommendations of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The recommendations of the ODIHR when it comes to the financing of election campaigns are to consider reviewing the limits on campaign expenses and the amount of public funding, in order to prevent excessive spending with potential undue influence on voters and improve equal campaign opportunities.
"In order to increase the participation of women in political life, the party's spending of public funds intended for their women's organizations should be strengthened and implemented, and in case of non-compliance with the regulations, sanctions should be applied", is also the recommendation of the ODIHR.
In order to increase transparency, it is recommended that the law should stipulate that donations above a certain (low) amount can only be made by bank transfer. The recommendation is that the Law should stipulate that the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption is obliged to publish reports on campaign financing immediately upon receipt and in an easily accessible, user-friendly manner.
"Measures should be taken to enable the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption to identify donations made by public contractors, including cross-checking donors against the digital database of public contractors."
ODIHR's recommendation is that the monitoring of campaign costs should start from the announcement of elections and should include all forms of campaigning, including campaigns and Google Ads ads, as well as other important platforms, as much as possible. They also recommend that the Act should provide for effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions for third-party campaigning and an effective enforcement mechanism, including the cessation of illegal campaign activity and the removal of campaign materials.
Those recommendations were last expressed in the final report of the ODIHR after the extraordinary parliamentary elections on June 11 last year.
Law without measures to punish violations of party financing rules
"The current legal framework does not provide for effective protection measures and penalties for circumventing the rules, which limits effective supervision. "Limited progress has been made in amending the rules on the calculation and reporting of donations in kind, in accordance with the recommendations of the Council of Europe and the harmonization of the annual financial reporting form with the best accounting practice, which was pending since 2014," the EC report for Crna says. Burn for last year.
The Commission stated that civil society organizations criticize the lack of progress in revising the legal framework for fighting corruption in the financing of political parties:
"Specifically, the Law on the Election of Councilors and Members of Parliament has not been changed and must be harmonized with the Law on the Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns".
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