Centre for Civic Education (CCE) reminds that it has, back in 23 June 2014, issued an amended Initiative for dismissal of eight members of the Government of Montenegro in accordance with Article 105 of the Constitution of Montenegro which refers to the incompatibility of duties, and which gives to the Prime Minister Milo Đukanović a constitutional right to propose to the Parliament of Montenegro dismissal of the members of the Government. It is rather disappointing that the Government, which is trying to prove to the EU that it is advocating for the rule of law, violates the Constitution flagrantly, and it does not react adequately when the violation is being indicated.
CCE has found out from the media that the office of the Prime Minister Milo Đukanović contacted Commission for the Prevention of Conflict of Interest for opinion on whether listed ministers are violating the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, as well as that the Commission, as it was expected, declared itself unauthorized.
It is important to remind that CCE did not submit an Initiative that requires the checking whether the named ministers are violating the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, but it has clearly pointed at the fact that those members of the Government permanently violate the Constitution of Montenegro, Article 105, which prescribes incompatibility of duties: “The Prime Minister and members of the Government shall not perform duties of member of the Parliament or other public duties, nor professionally perform any other activity”.
Namely, by examining the additional property records published by the Commission for the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest, CCE has found out that the Minister of Science of the Government of Montenegro Sanja Vlahović, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Petar Ivanović, Minister of Economy Vladimir Kavarić, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšić, Minister of Finance Radoje Žugić, Minister of Defense Milica Pejanović Đurišić, Minister of Culture in resignation Branislav Mićunović, Minister of Health Miodrag Radunović, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Information society and Telecommunications Vujica Lazović, in addition to ministerial compensation, receive compensation as lecturers or professors at the University of Montenegro.
Considering that the Constitution is the highest legal act that has stronger legal power than the law, CCE expresses the hope that this violation of the Constitution will be taken into consideration within the announced reconstruction of the Government, i.e. that in that Government there will not be found ministers who have incompatibility of duties.
Nikola Đonović, Programme Coordinator