Today’s adoption of the Law on Spatial Planning and Construction of Structures represents an ultimate victory of politics over the profession, private over public interest and corruption over the rule of law. Apart from the representatives of the Albanian coalition, other members of the ruling majority have once again demonstrated that they do not serve the interests of the Montenegrin people, but only the interests of the construction lobby and the associated criminal milieu.
The centralization of decision-making power, the deprivation of the rights of local self-governments and citizens, the inconsistency with the Constitution of Montenegro and other legal acts are only some of the major objections to the draft law, which the expert and the public have expressed recently. Nevertheless, despite numerous warnings, representatives of the ruling coalition once again, without a discussion, raised their hands and voted the law that stands in opposition to the public interest and opens up a huge space for corruption. Members of the ruling coalition once again demonstrate their only purpose – an unquestioned vote for the benefit of the elite, tycoons and the accumulation of their profits, all at the expense of Montenegrin citizens.
Therefore, the controlling function of the Montenegrin Parliament was stultified again. Instead of securing the adoption of the highest quality legal acts, the parliament acquiesced to the adoption of an unconstitutional law that, among other things, gives the spatial planning authority to the hands of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MORT), which denied citizens the right to plan and participate in the development of space in the territory of their towns. Also, the legal provision, adopted as it is, opens the door to all megalomaniac projects that devastate the rare, so far preserved Montenegrin resources – Buljarica, Kraljicina plaza, Velika plaza, Valdanos, Solana, etc.
The time to come will only show in practice how bad the resolutions adopted today are, especially when it comes to the role of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and the functions of the corresponding ministry. Centralization of power has always been and will be a very effective tool for legalizing corruption and its institutionalization.
We emphasize that the special responsibility lies with the representatives of minority members of the ruling coalition without whose obedience the DPS could not have implemented its scandalous plan to centralize the enormous power of decision-making on hundreds of millions of valuable assets of Montenegro’s local governments. Once again, these parties have shown an extraordinary amount of servitude to the ruling coalition and their interests, but also resistance to the public interest and well-being of the citizens of Montenegro.
Dejan Milovac
MANS Investigation Center Director
