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Montenegro makes significant progress in rule of l...
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Montenegro makes significant progress in rule of law
Published on: Jun 13, 2020 • 9:00 PM Author: PR Service
Montenegro has made significant progress in priority areas of the rule of law, confirming the success of the implemented reforms, and in addition to positive assessments, the Non paper detects the weaknesses of the system and thus directs the further course of reforms.
This was noted at a press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the Informal Working Paper on the state of play regarding chapters 23 and 24.
Montenegro's Chief Negotiator with the European Union Aleksandar Drljević stressed that today's Non-paper pointed out that Montenegro has made progress in priority areas of the rule of law, confirming the success of the implemented reforms.
"By carefully reading the document, we get another confirmation that we have achieved significant results in the reform process so far, which will ensure our entry into the final phase of accession negotiations in the near future," Drljević said.
In addition to the positive assessments, the working document, as he pointed out, also detects the weaknesses of the system and thus directs the further course of reforms in the field of the rule of law.
"When it comes to Chapter 23, the document confirms that Montenegro has continued with good results, which are especially visible in the part of reducing backlog of court cases, new criminal investigations in corruption cases, as well as temporary and permanent confiscation of property," Drljević said.
As he said, progress has been made in the area of freedom of expression, and new results have been recorded in the investigation of old cases of attacks on media property.
"In Chapter 24, we have made a significant step forward in the fight against human trafficking. Additional results have been achieved in the area of anti-money laundering. We are especially satisfied due to the fact that our efforts in the fight against organised criminal groups have been recognised," Drljević said.
He believes that Montenegro is facing a more intensive phase of the dynamics of the negotiation process, the fulfillment of provisional benchmarks and obtaining final benchmarks in Chapters 23 and 24.
"I believe that this day is another opportunity to invite all social actors to think about how we can jointly improve the process and contribute to strengthening the rule of law in Montenegro," Drljević said.
Negotiator for Chapters 23 and 24 Marijana Laković Drašković said that the Report was good and that there were no surprises in it, that the results were stated in several areas that are the subject of the negotiation process in the sphere of the rule of law.
"In the field of justice, Montenegro's efforts to reduce the backlog of cases, which were given priority status in the previous period, have been recognised. In that way, we managed to reduce the number of cases before the court from 150,000 in 2016 to about 2,500 at the end of 2019," Laković Drašković said.
Furthermore, she pointed out the positive assessments in the part of the reorganisation of the Police Directorate, which also affected the clearer line of command within the Sector for the Fight against Organised Crime and Corruption, and thus stronger and more coordinated support for investigations.
"Such facts resulted in a number of investigations and prosecutions for serious and organised crime, the number of which grew exponentially during 2018 and 2019 by 150 percent and 100 percent compared to the two-year period before that (2016/2017), and were presented as the positive impact of even closer cooperation between the Special Police Department and the Special State Prosecutor's Office," said Laković Drašković.
She especially emphasised the results achieved in the fight against trafficking in human beings. The track record was further consolidated in 2019, reflecting a more targeted and coordinated approach to detecting trafficking offences.
"It also encourages the progress in the fight against money laundering, through further improvement of the initial balance of results and improved capacities. When it comes to migration, the resilience and commitment of our country to manage migration flows in accordance with the recommendations and international standards have been noted," Laković Drašković said.
She assessed that there is an awareness of the challenges that still remain open issues within Chapters 23 and 24, but also the fact that resolving some of them largely depends on political criteria, given that key judicial appointments require a two-thirds majority in parliament.
"Nevertheless, we hope that these challenges will be successfully resolved by the end of this year," said Laković Drašković.
Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić highlighted that in five years, the Special State Prosecutor's Office issued 128 orders to conduct an investigation against a total of 991 natural persons and 270 legal persons.
In the period from the beginning of the year to 1 June, the Special State Prosecutor's Office issued 16 orders to conduct an investigation and five orders to expand the investigation, against a total of 120 natural persons and 19 legal persons.
From 2016 to 2019, the property damage is 174 million in "these crimes against which we have filed indictments".
Non-paper on the state of play regarding chapters 23 and 24 for Montenegro can be downloaded here.
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