Press release from 76th Cabinet session

Podgorica, Montenegro (10 May 2018) -- At today's 76th session, the Government of Montenegro passed the Draft Law on Cooperation of Montenegro with Diaspora-Emigrants. The retained the civic spirit and stance on the need to respect the equal status of the diaspora - emigrants from all emigrant groups from Montenegro. The law stipulates that the emigrants include Montenegrin citizens and other persons originating from Montenegro who live abroad and who perceive Montenegro as their home country or country of origin and foster it as democratic, independent, sovereign and civic. On the other hand, the Montenegrin citizens living abroad for education, treatment or other reasons that do not imply intentions of permanent residence abroad are not considered diaspora - emigrants.

The proposed solutions envisage the co-financing of programmes and projects of organisations of diaspora - emigrants based on the public competition, determine criteria for their evaluation, as well as a certain extent of co-financing, conditions for participation in the competition, obligation for dedicated use of approved funds, manner of reporting and supervision and legal basis for adoption required by-laws. Budget funds for the purpose of preserving and strengthening cooperation with emigrants will be provided at least at the level of 0.06% of the current budget of Montenegro. As to establishment and operation of the Diaspora Cooperation Council, the provisions governing the procedure for proposing representatives of the diaspora - emigrants to the Council have been amended. The provisions regarding the competencies of the Council, the conditions for the organisations that propose candidates, the termination of the mandate and the dismissal of the members of the Council are also amended. The number of prominent figures in the Council has increased, from 5 to 15 members, which opens up space for the contribution of our affiliated experts from various areas to the he work of this body.

Today’s session also approved The Report of the Montenegrin Representative to the European Court of Human Rights for 2017. The report presents an overview of the work of the Office of the Representative and the novelties in representation before the European Court, the review and structure of international proceedings before the European Court, and the judgments and decisions made in the past year and are in the process of supervision of execution before the Committee of Ministers. The report also contains data on the financial burden of the state budget for payments on the basis of established violations of human rights, as well as recommendations for preventive action in order to reduce violations of conventional rights.

According to the official records of the Secretariat of the Court, by the end of 2017, a total of 138 applications were filed against Montenegro by natural and legal persons and non-governmental organisations, which is 16% less than in 2016. The report shows that in 2017, the trend of rejecting large number of applications filed in the first phase of the proceedings as inadmissible and not taken into consideration by the Court. Of the total of 250 applications from Montenegro that the Court had in operation last year, after initial examination based on their admissibility, around 150 applications were rejected. During 2017, the European Court of Human Rights issued judgments in 13 cases in favour of the applicants, while in 6 cases it ruled that the Government's arguments were accepted and allegations rejected as inadmissible. At the end of the year, there were 80 cases for which the Court should make one of its decisions.

In the execution of judgments, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe accepted action plans and action reports and closed 12 cases, bringing final resolutions, thus continuing a positive trend in the implementation of the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. This resulted in the closure of a large number of cases contributed to the affirmation of Montenegro as a state that has a rapid reaction of domestic authorities in the execution of individual judgments, the report reads.

Given the still high index of the number of citizens' applications to the European Court due to the length of the proceedings before the state administration bodies, as well as the outflow of budgetary funds on this basis, the Government decided to take concrete measures to raise the level of responsibility of the authorities that cause their costs by their inefficient work. The competent ministries are responsible for considering the possibility of introducing into the legal system the model of financial accountability of state administration bodies and state bodies whose work caused a violation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, according to which the amounts of funds awarded by the judgments of the Court would be paid from the position of the Ministry, court or local government authority for which the violation of the convention law has been determined.

The discussion emphasised that a special programme of education on the standards of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms will be implemented for all employees who high-ranking officials in state administration bodies, whose decisions may be the subject of judicial proceedings before the Administrative Court of Montenegro, in order to prevent the violation of the right to "trial within a reasonable time".

The Cabinet passed of the draft Law Amending the Veterinary Law. The changes, due to the lack of official veterinarians, created the legal basis and conditions under which veterinarians and veterinary clinics can be authorised to perform sanitary examinations performed by an official veterinarian. This creates the conditions for harmonising the system of official controls with the European Union as one of the criteria for closing negotiation chapter 12 - Food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary control.

In order to harmonize national legislation with the acquis communautaire and implement the Food Safety Act, the Government approved the Regulation amending the Regulation on substances that can be added to foods for special dietary needs and the Regulation Amending the Regulation on Maximum Allowable Quantities of Unwanted Substances in animal eeding stuffs.

The Government decided to establish a separate organizational unit institute within the University of Montenegro called the Centre of Excellence for Research and Innovation.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO