Centre for Civic Education (CCE) estimates that political parties and coalitions which participate on parliamentary elections 2016 should determine their views regarding the Law on Government, i.e. oblige to adopt this law right after they enter the Parliament of Montenegro and thus finally legally regulate the work of highest executive body in the state.
In the recently published study “What type of Government organisation do we need? – comparative analyses and recommendation of new approach”, CCE pointed out that Montenegro is one of the few countries in Europe which does not have a Law on Government. Long-term-wise, adoption of Law on Government would normatively encompass the legally-political system, which implies a precise regulation of composition and mandate of Government. Furthermore, it is particularly important, in Montenegrin context, to emphasise that such law would restrict the possibility of “trade” in cases when Government needs the support to remain in power. Namely, the Government of Montenegro must not be used to “shelter” coalitional partners or “balance” party staff, instead it should be of service to citizens based on modern, efficient and tangible results.
Law on Government of Montenegro should have define the status of first vice president of Government, in case that executive has more than one vice presidents, thus exercising the competence of replacement of Prime Minister in cases of absence or inability within the delegated authorisations. Also, the Law on Government should define a special obligation based on which one of the vice presidents of Government should attend the sessions of Parliament of Montenegro, considering the constitutional obligation of executive to implement laws and other regulations adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro. Finally, the Law on Government should regulate more specifically the number and composition of ministers who implement the programme and policy of Government, as well as their accountability.
Hence, the political parties should state a clear proposal of structure of organisation of Government within their electoral offers, which would be implemented right after the elections, should they end up in the position to influence its formation. In this manner, the citizens would be provided with full information, from every political subject, which could also be used to measure the compromise between the systematic solutions and feeding of party appetites or populism, and who are the actors of those agreements which reflect the non-beneficial management of resources.
Nowadays, Montenegrin Government is one of the most cumbersome apparatuses of executive power in Europe, with 24 members of Government (Prime Minister, six vice presidents and 17 ministers), which renders it closer to Belarus, which has 32 members, rather than EU member states. As an illustration, one of the founders of EU and its most influential member state – Germany has 16 members of government, or size-wise, Slovakia has 15, and Cyprus has 13 members. In case of states outside the EU, which can serve as an role model for Montenegro, there is the example of Iceland which has 10 members of Government and manages double the amount of budget compared to the one of Montenegrin Government.
mr Vladimir Vučković, programme associate