According to a statement from the Embassy of France in Podgorica, on Tuesday, October 4, 2022, the Ambassador of the French Republic to Montenegro, Mr. Christian Timonier, awarded Mrs. Vanja Ćalović Marković the title of Knight of the National Order of Merit, at a reception organized in the French residence.
This award recognizes the constant engagement of Mrs. Ćalović Marković, Executive Director of the NGO MANS, in the areas of transparency and freedom of information in Montenegro.
The Medal of the National Order of Merit is awarded to French and foreign nationals as a reward for distinguished achievements in performing public, civil or military service, or private business. It was established by the decree of General Charles de Gaulle in 1963. The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, is its Great Patron (Grand maître).
The Ambassador complimented the exceptional career and persistence of Mrs. Ćalović Marković in the fight against corruption and organized crime. In addition to her investigative work within the NGO MANS, Mrs. Ćalović Marković provided support to numerous international organizations with her expertise.
Presenting the medal, Ambassador Timonier pointed out the impressive professional path of Vanja Ćalović Marković.
– Your constant dedication to the fight against corruption and organized crime has made you recognized both in Montenegro and beyond.
Back in 2006, you joined the working group at the Ministry of the Interior of Montenegro, which worked on the development of a strategy for the fight against corruption and organized crime. After that, you became a member of the National Commission for Coordination and Supervision of the Implementation of the Action Plan for fight against corruption and organized crime. You were a member of the Council of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption from 2015 to 2018. For two years, you were the head of the expert group in the National Council for the Fight against High-Level Corruption, Timonier said.
French Ambassador pointed out that parallel to her activities in Montenegrin institutions, Ćalović Marković was involved in the work of numerous international organizations, the World Bank, the Open Government Partnership or Transparency International, always with the aim of contributing to transparency and the fight against corruption in Montenegro.
He reminded that Ćalović Marković worked as an external expert for several years for the European Commission in Brussels.
– And of course, last but not least, as the Executive Director of the NGO MANS for more than two decades, Vanja Ćalović has devoted all her energy to conducting large-scale investigations despite the pressures whose victim you were. Her work has contributed to the improvement of Montenegrin legislation and led to convictions.
Precisely due to this exceptional career, dear Vanja, because of your persistence and tireless years-long dedication to your country and the general interest, because of these fights you lead, the French government decided to name you a Knight of the National Order of Merit, Ambassador Thimonier concluded.
Thanking for the award, the Executive Director of MANS, Vanja Ćalović Marković, said that she was proud to be given this award by France, the country whose revolution laid the foundations of freedom, equality and justice in Europe, and the country that founded the European Union.
– Although you are handing this award to me, I see it as a recognition of MANS since we have achieved all results as a team.
During twenty years of our work, we have revealed the biggest cases of high-level corruption, especially the illicit enrichment of public officials.
We have provided numerous evidence that election campaigns are financed from illegal sources and the votes are bought with funds from the budget.
We have revealed the connections of some individuals from the government with organized crime, as well as concrete cases of money laundering obtained through drug smuggling, Ćalović Marković stated.
She pointed out that MANS documented systemic problems and found solutions for reforms, putting pressure on the government which chronically lacked the political will to fight corruption.
– We have managed to get politicians to improve numerous laws, and set some important restrictions and mechanisms that allow us to control their work and detect corruption. We have enabled thousands of citizens to report cases of corruption to us, because they did not dare to turn to the institutions. Although the list of our results is much longer, Montenegro still has a long way to go to become a state in which the government is accountable to its citizens and works in the public interest.
That is why we are facing the same goals and are driven by the same motives as a little more than two decades ago when I started working at MANS.
I am convinced today, as I was back then, that tiny Montenegro could very easily change its system if only a few people with power decided to do so. This did not happen even after the change of government, thus, our task is to continue to force the political elite to work in public, not personal interest, and fight against crime regardless of whose flag they hide behind, because there is no such thing as our criminals and their criminals, but only criminals. This makes our work even more difficult, complicated and dangerous.
That is why we have received various threats, intimidation and pressure from all sides, both from the authorities, criminals and from the public and secret police. We have been arrested, interrogated, tapped, followed. The institutions to which we pointed out corruption initiated proceedings against us in order to silence us and cover up those cases. I was exposed to the biggest media lynching ever recorded in this area and much wider. From my example, my colleagues from other countries learned how powerful people can be cruel and low in their fabrications and attempts to discredit.
The goal of that and all other pressures on me and my colleagues was to scare us and make us stop doing our work. It was easy to give up, to get tired of providing resistance, but if everyone stays silent or leaves the country, justice will never prevail because there will be no one to seek it and fight for it.
That is why I have chosen the same, more difficult path over and over again, because I believe that each of us must do everything in their power to leave behind a better and fairer society.
This award represents public reward for what we have been through, but it also gives us an additional motive and incentive to continue the arduous struggle for Montenegro to become a well-ordered and democratic society, Ćalović Marković concluded.
