MANS today has filed an initiative to the Collegium of the President of the Parliament, by which has been requested to urgently amend the Code of Ethics of the Members of the Parliament, in order to ensure that the members of the Parliament who do not attend sessions of the working bodies and the plenum, as well as those who do not participate in decision-making, are financially sanctioned for failure to perform their main procedural duties.
The initiative petition addressed the Collegium to urgently initiate changes to the Code of Ethics of the Members of the Parliament, in to ensurethrough this document full compliance of the procedural provision by which is stipulated that the members of the Parliament should participate in the work of the Parliament and Board whose member he is and to decide (Article 55, paragraph 1 of the Rules), and to introduce appropriate sanctions for those members of the Parliament who violate this provision.
We are witnesses of increasingly frequent situation that some members of the Parliament are absent from the sessions of the Board and the plenum, while at the same time their absence they did not announced or justified by earlier commitments of parliamentary duties. Particularly problematic is the situation of unexcused absence of some members of the Parliament from the plenary session at which the voting is happening, because it directly affects the quality of acts adopted in the Parliament, and therefore touches the entire population in Montenegro.
MANS reminded Collegium that all employees in Montenegro, whether the do their job in the public or private sector, have an obligation to come to their workplace and perform their tasks, otherwise face financial sanctions, disciplinary proceedings and dismissal. However, in the case of the Parliament, which makes the laws and regulations which define labor and legal policies, there is not even nearly similar policy. For this reason, we believe that there is an urgent need to improve the Code of Ethics of the Parliament, in order to ensure that all members of the Parliament relate to their procedural obligations in a responsible manner and the function they perform, especially bearing in mind that unlike the average citizen, they achieve far greater monthly income and various other benefits.
In this regard, we have proposed that the unjustified absence from meetings of committees and plenary sessions in the Parliament of Montenegro is standardized as a serious violation of the Code of Ethics, and to be expanded also on unjustified absence from voting in the Parliament, which is de facto more serious offense in relation to only the absence of the plenary session. With this initiative we suggested that in the Code is incorporated and the obligation of notification of the President of the Parliament or the working body of absence from the meeting with a written explanation of absence, in order to evaluate whether such absence is justified or not.
Also, we have proposed that part of the Code concerning the measures imposed is expanded in a way that prescribes financial sanctioning for the members of the Parliament who unjustifiably are absent from the sessions, specifically for the unjustified absence from one meeting of a working body or one working day of plenum prescribe is seized one daily allowance of monthly salary, and for unjustified absences during voting on plenum are seized three daily allowance of monthly salary.
Practice has shown that some members of the Parliament simply ignore their parliamentary obligations, which directly affects the reduction of quality in the work of Parliament and the quality of adopted decisions, while at the same time bring at a disadvantageous position other members who regularly participate in committees and plenary sessions, including as well voting on laws that are on the agenda of the Parliament.
Therefore, we urgently requested from the Collegium to initiate a process to amend the Code of Ethics the Members of the Parliament to ensure that all members of the Parliament are extremely responsible towards parliamentary obligation and the function they perform, and to eagerly participate in the work of the Parliament and its committees and decision-making.
Vuk Maras
Director of Monitoring Program
