(Podgorica, 26 June 2012) – The policies of the Assembly of Montenegro, when it comes to some of the highest state functionaries demonstrates that this institution has been captured by particular interests. The most important positions are invariably staffed by the dedicated partisan soldiers of the ruling elite, in order to ensure full control over the entire system in Montenegro.
Instead of the Assembly assigning professionals to key positions that are able to undertake real changes, and through their political independence secure the implementation of needed reforms, the public sector is increasingly being politicized. In spite of this, the European Union is going to increasingly demand fundamental reforms, especially following the start of accession negotiations. It is now already clear that political figures in key positions do not want to see such changes take place.
One of the best examples of the politicized insertion of ruling-party cadres into key positions was the recent selection of Boro Vucinic as the head of the National Security Agency (ANB). Instead of appointing an individual that has at least some elementary knowledge of intelligence work, the parliament has instead appointed a long-time DPS loyalist – who is a lawyer by profession – who has done everything other than those things that would suggest that he is a suitable candidate for this position. During his political career he was in charge of making decisions about development properties, roads and office spaces owned by the Municipality of Podgorica, and afterwords, as Minister, he would be in charge of the Environment and Spatial Planning. Afterwords he became Minister of Defense, without any prior experience in this field.
A similar cadre policy was carried out when it comes to the new Defense Minister, Milica Pejanovic Djurisic, a professor at the Electro-Technical Faculty in Podgorica. Even though she’s been fulfilling important state functions for a long time, including as an MP for nearly a decade, and then as an ambassador for another 7 years, Pejanovic-Djurisic did not have any professional contacts with the military and the defense apparatus. Instead of this, she held the position of the President and then Vice-President of the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which is perhaps the key experience necessary to become Minister of Defense these days.
In spite of the enormous problems that the Montenegrin economy is confronting, which is the result of the chaos that for years ruled on Montenegrin stock markets, this has not prevented Montenegro’s parliament to once again approve the mandate of Zoran Djikanovic, the President of the country’s Securities Commission (KHOV). The parliament thus once again missed the opportunity to bring to the head of this institution a professional that is capable of directly confronting problems in the country, to begin a strict control of activities on the securities market and return confidence to the Montenegrin stock market (which is one of the key conditions for attracting foreign investors that wish to work in accordance with the law and existing regulations).
Nor has the telecommunications sector escaped unscathed from politicized appointments. The parliament nominated Milica Vukotic – who is director of economic studies but is perhaps better known as the daughter of Veselin Vukotic (the crafter of the already failed Montenegrin neoliberal economic model) – as the head of the Council of the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services. Even though Vukotic’s career has largely been tied to studying the micro-economics of the health system, on which her masters and doctoral dissertations were based, she did not have a problem to – without any experience in the field of telecommunications – enter into such a key position. It is clear that one of her most important references was the fact that she is a professor at the University of Donja Gorica (UDG), which is owned by her father, together with the former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic.
Nor has the judiciary escaped this fate. Thus the Judicial Council of the Parliament nominated Rasko Konjevic, who holds an MA in Economics and is the vice-president of the junior ruling coalition partner the Social-Democratic Party (SDP). Even though lawyers should be the ones sitting in this body, who have substantial knowledge of judicial matters, Konjevic has had little contact with the judiciary in his career. He held the positions of the head of the cabinet of the Assembly’s President, served as an MP, was the President of the Assembly of the capital Podgorica, and he teaches the Basics of Management at the Business Studies Faculty in Podgorica.
All of the above, as well as numerous other examples of politicized appointments to the most important state positions, including the regulatory agencies that regulate energy (and whose decisions have cost all citizens dearly), the Senate of the State Auditing Institution, etc. illustrate that the Assembly does not work in the interest of citizens. Instead the Assembly is being legitimized by opposition MPs who remain inside this institution even though they cannot influence any important decisions.
