29th Session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (Strasbourg, 20-22 October 2015)

Speech of Henrik Brade Johansen (Denmark, ILDG),
co-rapporteur of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, about State of the Local Democracy in Montenegro

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I fully agree with the observations of my co-rapporteur and can only reaffirm from my side that the progresses made by the Montenegrin authorities within the last years are indeed remarkable. Frankly, the reform ambitions, all taking place under the backdrop of AURUM were noticeable throughout our visit and are fully in the spirit of the Charter. As Ms DOGANOGLU pointed out, the reform does in fact respond to some of the key issues that continue to pose concerns in regard to Montenegro’s compliance with the charter. Let me briefly outline the most pressing points of concern for you:

First of all, our delegation noticed that the problems concerning the workforce capacity of municipalities in Montenegro did not improve since the last visit in 2010. It is a matter of fact that even in times of economic despair, the number of employees in local governments is continuously increasing. We had the impression that human resource management remains inefficient and devoid of any comprehensive policy. The consequences of overstaffing, lack of knowledge, skills and experiences in assuming the daily task of municipalities are of detrimental effect for municipalities. Let me be clear on this, not only does this issue negatively impact local finances and the sustainable development of the municipality. It is above all prejudicial to the rights of the citizens living in those municipalities.

Moreover, the financial situation in the majority of Montenegro’s local authorities remains critical. As we outlined in (paragraph 86 of) our report, numerous municipalities are highly indebted, even if they are situated at the economically advantageous coast and for many of them it is difficult to fulfil even the most fundamental competences with their resources at hand. In consideration of the whole spectrum of information we have received during the consultations, my co-rapporteur and I remain of the inner conviction that the situation in Montenegro is only partially in compliance with Article 9. We would like to underline once again that specific attention needs to be paid to paragraphs 1,2,3 and 6 of this article. Concerning article 9 paragraph 6, we are definitely aware of the existing legal framework for consultation of local authorities. We are however still not convinced that the situation in praxis fulfils the requirements of the charter.

Also what concerns the right of local authorities to associate, which is dealt with in article 10 of the Charter, we remain of the opinion that the situation in Montenegro is only in partial compliance with the Charter. In this sense, we welcome the current legal reforms that may very soon lead to the total abolishment of the requirement of state consent for the association of municipalities. And yes, we are optimistic that – once implemented in practice – this reform could lead to Montenegro’s full compliance with article 10.

I believe it is necessary to reaffirm in this regard that monitoring is, and will always be an instant snapshot of the moment of a visit. Accordingly, the assessment of a country’s compatibility with the Charter is also made in regard to the actual status quo that we encounter and does not allow speculating on the implementation in practice of laws that are yet in the process of being adopted. As we mentioned in our report, we will in any case closely follow the upcoming legal reforms and encourage Montenegro to further pursue the legislative projects corresponding to our recommendations.

Furthermore, it was sometimes difficult to see the line between the legal entitlements and competences actually exercised by the state and the local level. Both the competences of education and health care serve as an example for this issue. I would like to reaffirm that the Charter clearly stipulates that concomitant financial resources need to be guaranteed for any competences that are being transferred to municipalities.

Having said this, we call national authorities to implement a sustainable system of development of human resources in municipalities in close cooperation between local and state level. We definitely support the government’s ambitions to implement a system of merits and rewarding of staff members who are ready to provide quality services to citizens.

We furthermore recommend the Montenegrin authorities to clearly define the scope of competences of municipalities and to allocate financial resources that are commensurate with their powers and responsibilities.

In regard to the challenging financial situation of many local authorities in Montenegro, we invite the government to put into practice a sustainable model of refinancing debts and liabilities of local governments towards financial institutions.

 

In the light of the several provisions of the Charter that are currently not ratified by Montenegro we also complement the government’s consideration to ratify them in the near future. I would like to reaffirm, that the actual situation concerning many provisions that were not ratified at the time, is in fact already in compliance with the Charter.

For last, we encourage Montenegro to fully complete the legislative projects currently underway in the context of the AURUM reform process. Montenegro does now have the chance to show that its ambitions will not just remain on policy papers but transform into actions … actions that have an actual impact on the level of local democracy on the ground!