Press release of the 1st session of the 44th Government of Montenegro

The newly elected 44^th Government of Montenegro held its constitutive session today, chaired by Prime Minister MEc Milojko Spajić. Permanent working bodies were formed at the session, the method of work was agreed and steps were taken to meet the normative, administrative and technical conditions to enable the Cabinet’s full capacity as from the next session. Also, the necessary appointments were made in the Secretariat General of the Government and Office of the Prime Minister.

M.L. Dragoljub Nikolić was appointed Secretary General of the Government, Branko Krvavac was appointed Chief of the Office of the Prime Minister, while Tanja Musterović was appointed Deputy Chief of the Office of the Prime Minister.

Milena Milović was appointed Adviser to the Prime Minister for Economic Policy, while Sandra Radević was appointed Adviser to the Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Internal Policy, European, and Foreign Affairs.

The following commissions were formed:

• Commission for Political System, Internal and Foreign Policy, led by M.L. Momo Koprivica, Deputy Prime Minister for Political System, Judiciary and Anti-Corruption, while his deputy will be Andrej Milović, Minister of Justice,
• Commission for Economic Policy and Financial System, chaired by Nik Gjeloshaj, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Policy and Minister of Economic Development, while his deputy will be Novica Vuković, Minister of Finance,
• Commission for Personnel and Administrative Affairs, headed by Srđan Pavićević, MD, Deputy Prime Minister for Labour, Education, Health and Social Affairs and his deputy Psy.M. Marash Dukaj, Minister of Public Administration,
• Commission for Distribution of part of the Budget reserves, headed by Novica Vuković, Minister of Finance and deputy Naida Nišić, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare.

The Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister for Security, Internal Policy, European and Foreign Affairs MEc Aleksa Bečić to coordinate the implementation of security policy, and Deputy Prime Minister Srđan Pavićević, MD, to coordinate activities on improvement of cooperation with the Republic of Italy, related to labour, education, health and social affairs.

At the session, Vladimir Joković, the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, was appointed a chairman of the Commission for the Assessment of Damages from Natural Disasters. Also, a Decision was made on the appointment of MEc Milojko Spajić as a president of the National Security Council, which will have eight more members.

At today’s session, the Cabinet also agreed to the termination of office to the Secretary General of the 43^rd Government and his deputy, as well as to the Chief of the Office of the Prime Minister, his deputy and advisors, and advisors to the Deputy Prime Ministers of the 43^rd Government. Also, the termination of office was adopted for the Assistant Secretary of the Secretariat for Legislation M.L. Dragoljub Nikolić, at his personal request.

The Decree on organization and manner of work of the State administration was adopted. Following the eastablishment of the 44^th Government, there was a need for new organization of the State administration. Thus, the mentioned Decree established the organization with 19 ministries and 25 administrative bodies.

The Cabinet adopted the Decision on establishing the ministries that can have state secretaries. In compliance with the Law on State Administration which stipulates that the ministries can not have more than three state secretaries, this Decision creates a possibility that five ministries can have one state secretary each, eight ministries can have two state secretaries each, and six ministries can have three state secretaries each, appointed by the Government at the proposal of the ministers.

The Decree on the Office of the Prime Minister of Montenegro was adopted. The Decree stipulates that the Office of the Prime Minister will perform advisory, analytical, expert and other activities for the needs of the Prime Minister. Activities under the Cabinet’s authority are performed within the internal organizational units – offices, services and other units. In order to perform activites related to communication with citizens, taking actions upon their petitions and complaints, and acting upon citizens’ requests and appeals for help, the Office for communication with citizens will be formed within the Office of the Prime Minister.    

The Cabinet adopted the Decree on amendment to the Decree on determining the period of conducting census of population, households and dwellings and the reference census moment. The Decree amendment stipulates that the census will be carried out from 30 November to 15 December 2023. The reason for adopting this Decree is to delay the implementation of census of population, households and dwellings in order to create conditions that this significant social activity obtains absolute legitimacy via additional improvement of transparency and inclusiveness, particularly related to developing a special software that would enable every citizen to check their data, thus preventing potential abuse and alleged lack of objectivity of the census-takers during the census implementation. The final objective of this amendment is obtaining timely and comprehensive statistical information.

The Cabinet also adopted the draft platform for participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Filip Ivanović, PhD, at Ministerial Conference, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, 2 November 2023.