The 4th Cabinet session – 20 May 2022

The Montenegrin Cabinet, at its fourth session held today, chaired by Prime Minister Dritan Abazović adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on the Budget of Montenegro for 2022. Amendments to the Law are adopted due to technical harmonisation, in accordance with the reorganisation of the Government of Montenegro, i.e. the amended Decree on the organisation and manner of work of state administration.

According to the Draft Law, the amount of EUR 2,495,692,936.47 is distributed as follows:

• Current budget - 1,021,904,566.36 euros,
• Reserves - 67,442,353.59 euros,
• State funds budget - 834,948,474.98 euros,
• Capital budget - EUR 242,431,134.82,
• Transaction costs - 328,966,406.72 euros.

Compared to the current Law, Current Budget expenditures increased by EUR 161,193.80, State Funds Budget increased by EUR 150,000.00, Transaction costs were lower by EUR 250,760.00, while Reserves and Capital Budget remained unchanged, so that the total budget expenditures slightly increased by a total of 60.431.40 euros. The Draft Law will be sent to the Parliament of Montenegro for adoption by urgent procedure, in order to create conditions for unhindered financing of spending units after the reorganisation of the Government.

The Draft Law on Ratification of Protocol 16 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms was adopted. This Protocol gives the highest courts and tribunals of the Contracting Parties the opportunity to seek advisory opinions from the European Court of Human Rights on matters of principle concerning the interpretation or application of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention or its Protocols. In this way, Montenegro was given the opportunity to use the institute of advisory opinion to prevent potential violations of human rights and freedoms in its legal system, and the issue of backlogs and the submission of new individual petitions before the European Court would be resolved.

The Information on the ADMAS project was adopted. The Information presents data related to the implementation of the ADMAS project, with the assessment that the whole procedure was accompanied by numerous controversies and deviations from the usual procedures for approving and collateralizing credit support, which consequently led to the fact that a significant part of the funds placed through the Ministry of Agriculture to end users was not properly paid, which is why forced collection procedures are conducted. The total amount of outstanding annuities is $ 2,853,875.93. On this occasion, the Cabinet, respecting the international reputation of Montenegro and the real risk that due to non-payment of due obligations, the lender may request a one-time payment of the total debt of approx. 24 million euros, adopted conclusions which oblige the Ministry of Finance to make the payment of due obligations.

The Cabinet adopted the Information on the preparation of the National Report on Human Rights in Montenegro within the fourth cycle of the United Nations Universal Periodic Review for the period 2018-2022. The Information states that the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is the only mechanism for assessing the human rights in all UN member states, and that Montenegro is obliged to submit a National Report by February 2023. The report is based on an overview of the degree of implementation of recommendations received during the third cycle of UPR and relates to the review of the human rights and results achieved in Montenegro since the beginning of 2018, with special focus on progress in the implementation of recommendations in the period after the submission of the Mid-Term Report on the implementation of recommendations in June 2020. In order to strengthen the national dialogue on human rights, as well as to objectively present the achieved results and challenges in this field, all relevant state institutions, the Institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms of Montenegro, NGOs and the UN System in the country are participating in drafting the Report.

The Report on the work of the Commission for Natural Disaster Damage Assessment in the period from January to April 2022 was adopted.

The Cabinet adopted the Report on the road traffic safety for 2021.