MANS today submitted an initiative to the President of the National Commission for the Implementation of the Strategy for the fight against corruption and organized crime Dusko Markovic to urgently convene a meeting of that body in order to discuss important anti-corruption laws that are currently in the process of making and will be in the near term forwarded to the Parliament for adoption.
The National Commission is the only umbrella body in Montenegro responsible for the management, organization, synchronization and monitoring of the Strategy for the fight against corruption and organized crime, and anti-corruption reforms, than it identifies priorities, dynamics and deadlines for implementation and evaluation of the results achieved in the implementation of the Strategy, activities and measures in the action plan for implementation of the Strategy.
In this regard, from Markovic we requested that the National Commission especially considers drafts: the Law on Prevention of Corruption, the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, the Law on Public Procurement; the Law on Special Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Law on the Constitutional Court, the Law on Administrative Inspection and the Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid.
Despite the fact that the National Commission is umbrella body which examines anti-corruption reforms in Montenegro, and at the same time is the only body whose members are representatives of all branches of government and non-government sector, and which in the best way can consider drafted texts of laws relating to the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Because of that we requested from Markovic that the National Commission for each of mentioned acts defines specific guidelines and suggestions for improvement, to ensure that all proposed laws are of the highest possible quality, keeping in mind that the fight against corruption is one of the key priority of Montenegro in the process of EU integration.
However, although the authorities and obligations of the National Commission are clearly defined, this body in the past period was more than passive in relation to all relevant anti-corruption issues, first of all because of the fact that Markovic personally neglected its work and did not invest enough effort to ensure that the National Commission function in accordance with all that are its responsibilities and duties.
However, due to the fact that Montenegro faces increasing number of tasks relating to the fight against corruption and organized crime, because of the EU integration process, the National Commission must urgently begin to actively carry out its work and to assist various government bodies to promptly and efficiently meet their obligations under the EU agenda.
This the reason why we requested from Markovic to urgently convene a meeting, as well for the fact that the report of the European Commission on Montenegro’s progress in 2014 will be released soon, so the National Commission can, if political will, exists, take certain steps to prevent negative marks in some parts of the report on progress relating to the fight against corruption and organized crime.
Also, we reminded Markovic that the National Commission has a very significant arrears that must be realized, especially considering the report on the implementation of the Action Plan for the implementation of the strategy for the fight against corruption and organized crime, as well as a number of initiatives from MANS, that yet have not been adequately addressed on the meetings of the National Commission.
MANS
