PODGORICA – On 3 February, The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, announced that he decided to return the laws, adopted by the Parliament a day before, “for reconsideration, so that the MPs would have the opportunity to read and consider them in detail”. On the other hand, it was reported by Vijesti that such a decision “could slow down the closing of some negotiating chapters in March in April”.
On Monday, at two extraordinary sessions, MPs adopted without debate 25 laws deemed necessary to meet the criteria in the country’s accession negotiations with the European Union.
Elaborating on his decision to return the laws for reconsideration, Milatović stated that “European reforms do not mean simply raising hands in the Assembly, or adopting laws without debate and discussion”.
“Citizens expect a serious and responsible approach from MPs when adopting laws that determine their daily lives”, he wrote on X.
For her part, Maida Gorčević, Minister of European Affairs, accused Milatović of “open obstruction”.
“The President Milatović has often unjustifiably criticized the pace of adopting EU laws, and now, through open obstruction, is assuming the role of the main brake on the European path. Returning the laws to Parliament does not mean additional debate, but solely a postponement of their adoption”, she stated on X.
Gorčević stressed that the laws “had been in procedure for months, considered by all parliamentary committees, and had received an opinion from the European Commission”.
“Actions, not rhetoric, show how genuinely committed someone is to the European path. During the term of the 44th Government, it is necessary to close 30 out of a total of 33 negotiating chapters. Montenegro faces intensive work to close another 20 chapters, and it is therefore discouraging when certain political actors, in an attempt to harm the current Government, knowingly harm both the state and its European path as well”, she remarked.
Sources from the Montenegrin Government told Vijesti that all the laws adopted on Monday are marked with the “blue flag”, which imply that they are important for closing chapters in the EU accession process, that they were approved by the European Commission, and that they were a topic of the public debate.
“The adoption of these laws is the final benchmark for the chapters planned to be closed in March and April… The Assembly must adopt them of time, so that Brussels and EU member states have enough time to discuss them… Afterwards, an intergovernmental conference can be scheduled”, an interlocutor of Vijesti notes.
According to another source from the Government, “these are mostly European directives that must be translated into Montenegrin legislation almost literally, because they are already part of the legal system of all EU member states”.
Vijesti clarifies that, according to the rules, the Speaker of the Parliament should put the laws, returned by Milatović for reconsideration on the agenda again at the first next session, which is scheduled for 10 February. After that, the President of the state is required by to sign the laws if they are re-enacted.
