The agenda of the Montenegrin Parliament, which starts today, has 46 legislative proposals and a few very significant contracts, and a new majority in the Parliament, which in the public is find to be a product of political corruption, apparently is trying to “push them on back door”, despite the fact that there is not enough time for a debate on the proposed solutions.
Also, the fact that in less than six months regular parliamentary elections should be held, shows that is not the right political moment to adopt a number of laws, of which many contain a very controversial decision and can have a huge negative impact on different groups of Montenegrin citizens.
One of the controversial laws that the members of the Parliament should decide is the Bankruptcy Law, which is full of controversial solutions that open the way that the property, especially the property of valuable companies, is sold well below its market value, and the law expands the powers of the bankruptcy trustees, in a way that without the consent of the bankruptcy judge can take the loans and purchase equipment of higher value, or that are no longer required to prepare all the required financial statements of the company that is into bankruptcy.
Such a situation is particularly unacceptable when is taken into account that the bankruptcy trustees in the past two decades have destroyed dozens of valuable companies and grossly abused their power, when we should be reminded of the Aluminium Plant case from Podgorica and Ulcinj Solana, and it would be justified to limit their powers, not to expand them.
How big is the extend of this problematic legal proposal the best shows the fact that provides that the prior bankruptcy proceedings initiated under the former legislation end under the provisions of the new law, which violates one of the fundamental legal principle of non-retroactive application of the law and directly violates the Constitution of Montenegro.
On the agenda of the Parliament are set of laws on the judiciary of which is particularly significant the one on the liability of legal persons for criminal offenses, and judging by the proposed solutions the Ministry of Justice did not use the best examples from the comparative practice, and has missed more complete and more comprehensive regulation of the liability of legal entities for performed criminal acts.
In addition, the members of the Parliament need to decide on the draft of the Corporate Income Tax Law, the Free Zone Act, amendments to the labor law, and a set of laws in the field of environmental protection, as well as a draft law on the taking and transplantation of human organs for therapeutic purposes, which all speaks about the importance of a series of legislative proposals that will, in all likelihood, the final word give a new and challenged parliamentary majority, led by the Democratic Party of Socialists and the Positive Party of Montenegro.
Parliament should approve the agreements on exploration and production of oil and gas in the Montenegrin coast, which the Government concluded with the Italian-Russian consortium Eni and Novatek, despite the fact that still is not adopted a strategic assessment on the environmental impact that would show the real extent of the impact on the environment, and as well, yet there are no studies on the possible economic benefits of the project.
Before the members of the Parliament is the decision on another project on the Montenegrin coast – the contract on the use of marine resources for the construction of submarine interconnection between Italy and Montenegro. The Government with the company Terna, which builds an undersea cable, concluded a hazardous contract on the use of the coastal zone consciously giving up at least several million of euros in favor of the foreign partner, but at the expense of the state budget.
The members of the Parliament should discuss and on the Spatial plan of special purpose for the area of Durmitor, the decision on establishing a temporary parliamentary committee for control over the investigation of cases of endangering the security of journalists and media houses, as well as a number of reports on the work of state agencies and institutions.
This is only part of the listed legal provisions on which the Parliament should decide in an atmosphere of deep mistrust among political actors, when their attention is solely focused on purely political issues, and where it will be extremely difficult to make a space for useful discussion.
We believe that it is not randomly chosen this political moment that on the Parliament’s agenda is put such a large number of important laws that will significantly affect the rights of citizens, but above all will open the door for the new benefits to so-called “strategic” partners of the Government, to the detriment of the public interest.
The new majority, suspected to be made by political corruption, has already shown how its effects can be detrimental to the public interest when the DPS and its satellites, the ruling coalition and the part of the opposition, voted for the contracts Mamula and the Queen’s beach, which these valuable location are practically given as gifts to the investors. There is no doubt that the DPS will, supported by the votes of their political minions, continue to plunder the state resources on the most blatant way possible. The adoption of laws that are currently in the Parliament will allow them to make plunder officially legal.
MANS
