Montenegro's Cabinet Session

Podgorica, Montenegro (30 March 2017) – The Government of Montenegro, at today’s session, adopted the Analysis of the implementation of tax policy for 2016. The Ministry of Finance is tasked to continue with the activities on the improvement of the tax system, taking into account the further harmonisation with the law and practice of the European Union, future fiscal strategy and programme of economic reforms. The Tax Administration is tasked to implement all measures to collect the tax debt.

The Government also adopted Proposal for the Law Amending the Law on consensual financial restructuring of debts to financial institutions, as well as Proposal for the Law Amending the Law on Non-Governmental Organisations, which regulates the system of financing projects and programmes of NGOs from the state budget. The proposed amendments suggest that the annual Budget Law of Montenegro provides funds for co-financing NGO projects and programmes, supported by the EU funds.

The Government adopted Proposal for the Law Amending the Law on games of chance which reconciles the current Law with new provisions to the Law on NGOs, in order to properly and precisely define the issue of financing plans and programmes of non-governmental organizations.

Proposal for the Law on spatial data infrastructure was also adopted, which creates the conditions that the collected data is stored in one place and in the prescribed format, i.e. in electronic form.

The Government adopted Report on the public debt of Montenegro as of 31 December 2016. The report stated that the public debt of Montenegro at the end of last year, without deposits, amounted to 2,546.05 million EUR or 68.27 percent of gross domestic product and consisted of 2,402.96 million EUR of government debt and local government debt of 143,09 million EUR.

According to the Law on Budget of Montenegro for 2017, the Government adopted the Agreement on long-term loan between the Government of Montenegro-Ministry of Finance and Ziraat Bank Montenegro and agreed on borrowing 15 million EUR to finance the budget for 2017.

The Government adopted Decision to designate persons, objects and space protected by the Police, which will ensure the provision of optimal care to protected persons, with a more rational use of human and other resources. The novelty compared to previous solutions is the reduced number of persons, which must be protected, because holders of judicial and prosecutorial functions are omitted due to amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs and practices.

The Government adopted the Sixth semi-annual report on the overall activities in the process of Montenegro's integration into the European Union for the period July - December 2016, which will be sent to the Parliament for consideration; as well as Action plan for harmonisation with the EU acquis in the area of economic and monetary policy – Chapter 17, which defines the steps necessary for the harmonisation of Montenegrin legislation with the European regulations in this area.

The Government adopted Strategy on development of railways for the period 2017 - 2027, which identifies all the problemmes in the railway sector and establishes a vision for future development. It was stated that it is necessary to provide about 100 million EUR from the budget and European funds.

For the purpose of planning and continuous provision of the necessary financial resources, the Government adopted the Plan of regular and investment maintenance, reconstruction and building of state roads for 2017 and the Report on the Implementation of the Plan for the previous year. The Plan suggests 37,987,263.25 EUR for 2017.

The Government adopted the Action Plan for implementation of criminal sanctions for the period 2017-2021, which suggests comprehensive activities that the authorities should take in order to strengthen prevention and protection from abuse and respect for human rights, promotion of alternative sanctions and measures, reducing the prison population and improving conditions in prisons. Activities in the Action Plan are in accordance with the measures foreseen in the Action Plans for chapters 23 and 24.

The Government adopted Report on the implementation of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Integrated Border Management Strategy in 2016 with the Action Plan for 2017. It was stated that the planned measures in the past year were almost fully implemented. The plan for 2017 sets out the activities related to: border control, combating cross-border crime and detection, four-layer control access model, inter-agency cooperation and coordination and concerted action with bodies and institutions of the European Union.

At today's session, the Government adopted the Report on implementation of the 2016 Action Plan for the implementation of the Public Administration Reform Strategy in Montenegro 2016-2020, as well as the 2017 Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy for Information Society Development until 2020.

The Government, among other things, adopted Proposal for the Law on the national brand and Proposal for the Law on amendments to the Law on the Audit of EU funds.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO