Milatović returned three laws to the Assembly for re-decision

SOURCE: POBJEDA / M.J.
The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, pursuant to Article 94 of the Constitution of Montenegro, returned the Law on Amendments to the Law on Business Companies, the Law on Amendments to the Law on Financing Local Self-Government and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Electronic Communications to the Assembly for reconsideration.
Milatović, in the explanation of the decision to return the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Business Companies to the Assembly for re-decision, stated that the prescription of retroactive application of certain solutions contained in the said Law is in contradiction with the constitutional prohibition of the retroactive effect of laws and other regulations, established in Article 147 of the Constitution .
Article 3 of the adopted Law introduces a new Article 330b into the current text of the Law on Business Companies, which stipulates that "procedures for convening and holding the shareholders' meeting that were started before the entry into force of this law shall be terminated according to this law, unless the deadlines for holding the assembly shorter than the deadlines from Article 151a of this law."
Bearing in mind that in the process of adopting the Law in question, public interest was not determined, with regard to the possibility that some of its provisions have a retroactive effect, in accordance with the Constitution of Montenegro and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro, the President believes that it is necessary for the Parliament of Montenegro to once again review the merits of the decision which enables the retroactive application of the adopted Law, the Office for Public Relations of the President of Montenegro states in a statement.
Stating the reasons for returning the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Local Self-Government Financing to the Assembly for decision, Milatović stated that the adopted law, among other things, ceded the revenues of municipalities, based on part of the income from the income tax of natural persons according to the place of residence of the person who earns the income , reduced for the municipalities of the coastal and central regions from the previous 50 to 40 percent.
The aforementioned legal solution, he added, contains shortcomings and its application in practice would have negative effects on the development of local self-governments in the coastal and central regions, especially bearing in mind that the budgets of those local self-governments were adopted in accordance with the current Law. Milatović also believes that the adopted law puts the local self-governments of the coastal and central regions in an unequal position, "and especially the underdeveloped local self-governments belonging to these regions, among which there are those that have been in the category of development below the Montenegrin average for many years".
Amendments to the Law in this way, without clear criteria when it comes to the level of development, would lead to a paradoxical situation where certain underdeveloped municipalities from the Primorsky and Central regions, which receive money from the Equalization Fund, are left without part of the ceded revenues, which are directed to underdeveloped municipalities. from the Northern region, according to the announcement.
The adopted amendments, it is added, introduce a new institute of financial equalization of municipalities, in addition to the existing Equalization Fund, which gives discretion to the Ministry of Finance to dispose of funds without established legal criteria and established distribution procedures.
It is important to point out that, respecting the principle of solidarity and the fact that developed municipalities have a greater economic capacity to contribute to the socio-economic development of Montenegro, the reduction of the development gap cannot be achieved by slowing down the growth of developed municipalities, but also of underdeveloped ones, in the Central and To the coastal region, which undoubtedly appears to be a reduction in the ceded revenues, the press release says.
Milatović, in the decision to return the Law on Amendments and Supplements to the Law on Electronic Communications to the Parliament for reconsideration, stated that the solutions contained in the adopted Law, among other things, imply a different way of supervision and control when it comes to the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Activities, where the key supervisory role, which according to the current legislation in relation to the Agency is performed by the Assembly, and according to the adopted decision, will be performed by the Government.
He added that it is extremely important that the procedure for amending the Law on Electronic Communications implies the existence of a positive opinion of the European Commission in relation to the proposed solutions, which concern, first of all, the independence of the work of the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services.
He noted that in the past period, the European Commission emphasized that the issue of the independence of the Agency, as a regulator, is treated as one of the most important aspects in the context of the criteria for closing the negotiation chapter 10.
He reminded that the legal changes in question were already once, in April 2023, part of the parliamentary procedure of the previous convocation of the parliament, when they were also considered without a public discussion process.
Milatović believes that the issue of compliance of the adopted Law with EU legislation remains open. "According to the above, the President of Montenegro believes that it is necessary for the Parliament of Montenegro to be additionally determined according to the reasons for amending the existing legal solutions," the announcement states.
On December 30, 2023, Milatović issued Decrees on the promulgation of 14 of the 17 laws that the Assembly adopted just before the end of 2023.