Cabinet Session: University-level education, public sector salaries, legislation, elections, government transparency

Podgorica, Montenegro (17 June 2016) – The Government of Montenegro at today's session, at the proposal of the Board of the University of Montenegro, adopted decision on the number of students to be enrolled in the first year of undergraduate studies and in postgraduate specialist studies, as well as in the first year of undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Montenegrin language and literature for the academic year 2016-2017, which are financed from the budget of Montenegro.

From a total of 3,609 planned undergraduate students of the University in 2016-2017, it was decided that 1,666 students will be financed from the budget. Also, it is planned an enrollment of 1,943 self-financing students. At the postgraduate specialist studies of the University 1,141 students will be financed from the budget, while the number of planned self-financing students is 1,100. The Government agreed with the proposal of the University that, in order to implement the principle of affirmative action, the undergraduate and postgraduate studies increase the total number of places on each study program for one percent.

In order to comply with the new Law on salaries of public sector employees and the Regulation on groups of jobs and coefficients for the salaries of police officers, the Government adopted Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs. The proposed amendments equate the rights of police officers with other civil servants and employees in the amount of the compensation in case of death of a police officer or member of the immediate family.

The Government adopted Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Memorials, to comply with laws on administrative procedure, the protection of cultural property and the inspection. According to the new solution, the inspection, which had previously been entrusted to the Ministry of Culture, should perform the state authority responsible for the supervision tasks.
In order to prepare for the immediate application of legislation that is relevant acquis of the European Union for civil, procedural and executive legislation, the Government adopted the Analysis of process, litigation and enforcement legislation. The Analysis shows that the existing personnel and administrative capacity of the Ministry of Justice, basic courts and the Commercial Court of Montenegro is effectively dealing with cases of international legal assistance in civil and commercial matters, in terms of providing documents and evidence, in accordance with the conventions, to which Montenegro acceded.

The Government adopted the Analysis of work of notaries, with special reference to work in inheritance cases. The discussion concluded that the introduction of notaries, as part of the legal system, increased the level of legal certainty in matters of acquisition or transfer of ownership and practically eliminated the possibility that unauthorized person concludes a legal transaction for which is required prescribed form of notarial record. After the first year of work on probate cases it was noted that the notaries act promptly and in a majority of cases meet the deadlines of 60 days for completion of the procedure.

In accordance with the Agreement on creation of conditions for free and fair elections, the Government adopted a decision on the appointment of Gojko Pejović as Inspector General of the National Security Agency and the proposal for a decision on the suspension of rights and obligations of the former Inspector General of the Agency for National Security. Also, the Government accepted proposals for the engagement of the opposition in the management of companies on the local level.

The Government rejected the proposal for a regulation amending the Decree of the Government of Montenegro and the Decision on amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Government of Montenegro, according to which the representatives of the opposition in the Government asked for public attendance at the Government's sessions or the media coverage of parts of the Government's sessions. Proponents expressed their opinion that the opening of session for the public in this way contributes to transparency and represents a shift in advance and a new quality, that transparency does not only mean publishing material from the sessions, and that citizens should be given the opportunity to familiarise themselves with discussions and attitudes of the Government members. It is also stated that such a solution would be good for democracy in Montenegro.

Government representatives from the parliamentary majority pointed out that according to the surveys the Government of Montenegro is the most transparent in the region, that all relevant acts are available to the public immediately after the Government's session, that the use of social networks for reporting even during the session is initiated, that everything is done to enable the live internet broadcast of press conference after the Government's session and that the Montenegrin Government members have the freedom to present their own views while in some countries in the region they have to represent government policy even in the case of decisions against which they voted. Several members of the parliamentary majority assessed that the proposed solution would not significantly contribute to increasing the transparency not it would better inform citizens. The Prime Minister said that this is confirmed by the Government's sessions that were earlier open to the presence of journalists.

Government members, parliamentary majority and the opposition, agreed that the government of electoral confidence takes a constructive dialogue, that the entry of the opposition brought new quality and expressed the need to work on further improvement of transparency, among other things, and the tightening of criteria to determine the level of classification of certain items on the agenda.