Following the latest statement by the Minister of Public Administration, Suzana Pribilović, we are convinced that behind the intention to continue working on the Law on Free Access to Information (Law on FAI) in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic there is no public interest and the right of the public to know, but solely and entirely the determination of the Government of Montenegro to welcome the end of the crisis with a regulation that will give the state institutions even more room to withhold information.
Minister Pribilović is obliged to inform Montenegrin public who exactly has the greatest interest in continuing the processing of the Law on FAI at the time of the announced peak of the coronavirus epidemic, especially considering the catastrophic solutions introduced by this law.
Those are certainly not Montenegro’s NGO sector and independent media, which have put enormous effort and time to point out to omissions and propose solutions that will, in accordance with international best practice, provide citizens with better access to information. Thus, what is “the interested public” Minister Pribilović is talking about, justifying the need to continue working on the Law, even though there are no elementary conditions for it.
Important international organizations also warn that the time of the global pandemic is not the best time to discuss the Law on Free Access to Information.
Transparency International reminded the Government of Montenegro yesterday that it is inappropriate to work on this law “by force in a climate of collective fear of an impending epidemic”. Today, leading European organization on free access to information, Access Europe, announced that “the reform of the transparency law cannot take place in a manner that is shrouded in secrecy, and it is of great concern that Law on Free Access to Information is being amended during a serious health crisis and just a few months before parliamentary elections.”
It is difficult to believe that the Minister Suzana Pribilović is unaware of the serious and tangible danger that Montenegrin society is currently facing, especially since she is a part of the state apparatus that has the greatest responsibility for getting Montenegro through the current crisis with the least possible consequences.
However, it seems that unlike some other state bodies, the Ministry of Public Administration does not make its full contribution to this. It is really unclear in what way at this difficult time the citizens are being helped by Minister Pribilović’s persistence on the law, which brings with it new restrictions on access to information, to see the light of day as soon as possible.
At the same time, most state bodies continue to have great difficulties to align their work with the new situation and further contribute to reduced spreading of the virus epidemic through social distance.
Instead of providing the state apparatus with the necessary assistance in communication with citizens, Minister Pribilović spends valuable resources on establishing a legal framework that, once the epidemic is over, will produce harmful consequences for the public interest and the citizens’ right guaranteed by the Constitution to know how the state makes decisions and manages their money.
We expected the Minister Pribilović to be among the first to demand maximum transparency of the work of the National Coordinating Body for Communicable Diseases and full access to information on how state budget funds are spent during the coronavirus epidemic.
This is all the more so because in this way, especially in times of crisis, trust in the institutions is built, which is, at least formally, one of the basic principles of public administration reform implemented by Minister Pribilović.
Therefore, together with its partners from domestic and international organizations, MANS strongly demands that the debate on the Law on FAI be postponed without delay until basic conditions are met.
Dejan Milovac
Director of the Investigative Centre
MANS
