The Government of Montenegro is hiding the Dynamic Work Plan on the temporary and final benchmarks of Montenegro's negotiating chapters with the European Union (EU), the Institute of Alternatives announced today.
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"Despite the fact that the government persistently brags about the participation of civil society in the Montenegrin negotiations, it persistently continues to create a parallel negotiation structure and parallel documents compared to the valid ones, from the preparation and monitoring of which NGOs are excluded. After establishing the Council for the Rule of Law, as a parallel structure to the Working Groups for Chapters 23 and 24, with exactly the same purpose of existence, in February 2018, the Government of Montenegro adopted the Dynamic Work Plan on the interim and final benchmarks of the negotiating chapters of Montenegro with the European Union. Since the content of the Plan is not known, it is not It is clear what the connection is between this document and the Action Plans for Chapters 23 and 24 and other valid documents, nor whether new measures are foreseen that would encourage the realization of the benchmarks," states the statement of the Institute of Alternatives signed by Dina Bajramspahić, public policy researcher and member Working groups for negotiation chapter 23 "Judiciary and fundamental rights"
The NGO added that although Montenegro is the first country to include representatives of non-governmental organizations in the official negotiation structure, more precisely the Working Groups for the negotiation chapters, NGOs were not (publicly) invited to participate in the preparation, even for those chapters of which they are formally members. , and this also applies to the areas of the rule of law (Chapters 23 and 24).
"Although no reason for the unavailability of this document can be found, the Ministry of European Affairs did not submit this Plan to the Institute of Alternatives in April of this year. The Ministry of Justice, as the bearer of reforms in Chapter 23, also did not submit the IA Plan, but forwarded the request to the MEP, although in actual possession of this document. Apart from the fact that there is no reason for this document to be inaccessible to citizens, it is paradoxical that it is also inaccessible to full members of the Working Groups, and even those members who signed the Confidentiality Statement, which committed them to keep data in in accordance with the law, as is the case with the representative of IA. This puts the members of working groups from among NGOs in an unequal position for the umpteenth time," said IA.
They stated that at the meeting of NGO representatives with the new chief negotiator, held on June 12, they pointed out all the aforementioned problems with transparency and the Government's persistent effort to marginalize NGOs and prevent them from monitoring and contributing to the negotiations.
"However, nothing has been done in this regard to date. It is also interesting that the Government has foreseen that the Ministry of European Affairs "informs the Government on a monthly basis about the implementation of the Dynamic Plan". From February 2018 to the end of June 2018, the Government did not there were no reports and information on the implementation of the Dynamic Plan, and the Ministry of European Affairs was abolished in the meantime," the IA statement concludes.
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