Montenegro

United Nations, European Commission And Government Together Against Corruption

One of the Key Challenges for Montenegro

Ms. Gordana Đurović, the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration at the Government of Montenegro, Mr. Martin Harvey, the European Commission’s Special Resident Envoy in Montenegro and Mr. Garret Tankosić Kelly, UNDP Resident Representative a.i./UN Interagency Focal Point in Montenegro held a press conference on the occasion of the International Anti-corruption Day.
 
Deputy Prime Minister Ms. Gordana Đurović said Montenegro is very dedicated to fighting corruption and to the strengthening of the institutions and human resources to combat this terrible disease. She explained that since 2000, Montenegro has enacted a series of very important laws in the province to this field that to a great extent contribute to the Government’s work transparency: the Law on Budget, the Public Contract Law and a set of regulations in the province of judiciary and the establishing of new institutions such as Directorate for Fighting Corruption, Agency for Prevention of Money Laundering and a number of other bodies that work under the auspices of the Government and the Parliament.

“Still, the key thing is the enforcement of the strategy in this field and of the Action Plan Against Corruption and Organized Crime. There are many institutions involved in this process, and the key coordination institution is the Directorate for Anti-corruption Initiative which activities are based upon cooperation with the Supreme State Prosecutor, the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms, the Supreme Court, the Republic Labor Inspectorate and a number of other institutions. The Government also took on numerous preventive and advertising activities”, said Ms. Đurović.

“Anti-corruption policy is one of strategic activities in democratic development of Montenegro. In order to fight successfully, a set of laws need to be adopted, and Anti-Corruption Board should play the key role,” Ms. Đurović said and she invited the Parliament and the Government to enter the process of ratification of all international conventions on behalf of independent state.

Montenegrin Government is expected to be rigorous and dedicated to fight corruption, said the European Commission’s Special Resident Envoy in Montenegro Mr. Martin Harvey. He emphasized that the fight against corruption is one of basic principles that the EU is based upon, for, as he said, corruption leads to very negative economic and social influences, both for citizens as individuals and the business community.
- That is the reason why the fight against corruption is a great challenge for the countries of the European Union, as well as for those in the transition process. As far as Montenegro is concerned the issue of the fight against corruption and organized crime is mentioned in two documents published by the European Union last month. That is our annual report on progress and it has been for the first time made for Montenegro separately.  Mr. Harvey said that legal and administrative frames had gaps that enable corruption, especially in the field of physical planning and construction. These documents show the priorities that Montenegro must realize on its way towards the European partnership. This perception of the EU is shared by many other observers within the EU as well as other international organizations. “We can provide help for Montenegro to deal with these important issues and we will mobilize expert knowledge and experience from the countries that have already dealt with similar problems, but we will insist on judicial cooperation”, said Mr. Martin Harvey.
 
“Corruption affects politics, public procurement, private sector, international conventions, access to information, provision of help, education, health service…”, said the UNDP Resident Representative a.i, Mr. Garret Tankosić-Kelly, estimating that Montenegro needed great efforts  in anti-corruption fight. “Next year, UNDP will earmark USD 450,000 to assist the anti-corruption fight and to strengthen the role of the Parliament in the society ”, Mr. Tanoksic-Kelly said at the press conference.

- Montenegro must put a lot of effort in fighting corruption in order to create better social cohesion within the population, to provide equal access to services at all levels of society and to develop a competitive market to to make space for healthy direct investments. Special attention should be paid to the conflict of interest that most often appear in the cases of connection between politics and business. Therefore, adequate legislation is needed to regulate the problem of conflict of interest, but also to clarify the notion to the citizens. “Everyone understands that, if we have politicians dealing with business and vice versa, certain untransparent or criminal activities are hardly not to be expected.” According to Mr. Tankosić-Kelly, Judiciary and Police should play a stronger role, since these institutions are key instruments in fighting corruption in any area.
 
“Once a new Law on Conflict of Interests adopted and efficiently applied, it should influence changes in these behavior aspects of state functionaries that are now not in accordance with moral principles”, said Mr. Tankosić-Kelly, emphasizing that in the fight against corruption and organized crime a special contribution must be provided by the civil sector.

- In fact, there is not a single country that managed to combat corruption by relying exclusively on its system, if the citizens kept on taking corruption as normal and acceptable. The success lies in the combination of joint action and transparent and effective system of detection, prosecution and general condemnation of corruption, emphasized Mr. Tankosić-Kelly.

Our estimate is that the reasons of corruption are connected with the shortcomings within the transition process as well as with the abuse of administrative procedures. Legal and administrative frame for managing public goods contains certain gaps that provide space for corruption, especially in the process of privatization, building construction, creation of private plans. Also, we emphasized the need for the legal frame to take care of the conflict of interests of public officials. Our estimation is also that the Government has no capacity to conduct judicial procedures and to pass judgement upon the cases of corruption, for there has been so far a very few concrete verdicts. The European Commission have with the Montengrin Governemt done a preliminary finalization of the negotiations on stabilization and annexation. When we get certain proofs that the procedures in regard to this have started, then we will start working upon signing and implementation of that agreement, emphasized Mr. Martin Harvey, European Commission’s Special Resident Envoy in Montenegro.

 

President Of The Republic Of Montenegro, Mr. Filip Vujanović, on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day, confirmed the determination of all the state bodies to confront this problem.

- I am sure that Montenegro will be committed to the obligations under the UN Convention that it ratified, and that we will have success in fighting corruption. It is a big task and I believe that Montenegro will persis, said President Vujanović, inviting all citizens to give their support to this action which, as he said, must be comprehensive and continuous.