Research of the National Integrity System, conducted by MANS, shows that despite significant legal and institutional reforms Montenegro has made in the last few years, there are no substantial results in the fight against corruption, especially at the highest level. Therefore, the overall score of Montenegrin institutions is very weak.
The research has been carried out in line with the methodology of the global organization Transparency International, headquartered in Berlin, MANS being its partner for Montenegro. The research encompassed the assessment of work of 15 key pillars – all three branches of power, prosecution, anti-corruption institutions, electoral administration, public sector and state-owned enterprises, ombudsman, political entities, civil society, media and business community. The report encompasses data from the last few years, when the reforms were most intense, including 2015 separately for each pillar.
The assessment shows substantial flaws in all pillars – Montenegro still has an inadequate legal framework that should ensure the rule of law. In spite of the fact that laws have been changed a number of times in the past, key institutions that should yield result in the fight against corruption have mostly been politicized, while the lack of political will is the reason why the legal framework, inadequate as it is, has been implemented even worse in practice.
The assessment shows that the Parliament has often been ignored by the executive power, which fails to adequately implement Parliament’s conclusions and recommendations and which often hides from MPs information necessary for making adequate decisions. On the other hand, work of the Government of Montenegro has been quite non-transparent, especially having in mind that it has hidden from the citizens important information relating to implementation of capital projects, such as the highway construction, as well as information regarding the privatization process.
Investigation related to cases of corruption, especially those at the highest level, has not been proactively initiated by authorities – they are mostly conducted after such cases are reported by the non-governmental sector or published by the media. Investigations once opened usually do not end up in court and even if they do, judgments are mostly made in favor of the perpetrators of corruption affairs.
One of the main problems mentioned is the abuse of public funds and authorities by the ruling party for election campaigns, as well as numerous manipulation of voters’ list. „The Recording“ (Snimak) Affair has not had its resolution before the court, while the protagonists of that and many other election affairs, who are occupying the highest state functions, are still out of reach of judicial bodies. The electoral administration is politicized and bylaws of the State Election Commission, based on which electoral process is established, are very poor. Therefore, there is no detailed procedure for considering complaints of violation of electoral law, as the only instrument for protection of the legitimacy of elections and violations of voting procedures are resolved through outvoting by commission members, with the result depending on the majority of the commission members.
Public sector has also been politicized, as a result of cronyism as a mechanism for influencing electoral will of the citizens. For that reason, the public sector has too many employees and the state has done nothing to rationalize that number, which creates growing fiscal burden to the budget every year.
Finally, independent media and critically oriented non-governmental organizations have been facing constant pressure by the state and related interest groups, which use a wide spectrum of intimidation methods – physical attacks, dirty campaigns in the pro-regime media and abuse of the state apparatus. In addition, murders and physical attacks on editors and journalists of independent media and their property have not yet been elucidated.
In order to enhance the integrity system in Montenegro, MANS has defined over 80 recommendations that will be delivered to competent institutions, as well as the European Commission overseeing Montenegrin reforms related to the rule of law, which is the key priority of the EU integration process of our country.
The assessment of the national integrity system is a part of a regional European project implemented by the Transparency International, which is simultaneously carried out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and Turkey. The assessment of the national integrity system of Montenegro is available on the MANS’s internet presentation: http://www.mans.co.me/categories/publications/.
MANS
