The Parliament of Montenegro is blocking EU integration

Limited use of control mechanisms in all committees, including the Committee for European Integration, failed dialogues to overcome political crises, frequent delays and deliberate mistakes in fulfilling the legislative function, are some of the reasons why the Assembly did not play a more active role in the process of Montenegro's accession to the European Union (EU). The impossibility of electing key holders of judicial functions on several occasions had the effect of the Assembly becoming a direct cause of stalling in the negotiations - it is stated in the key finding of the analysis "The Assembly of Montenegro in the EU accession process: agora or arena?" prepared by the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) and the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM).
Although it is often (wrongly) perceived by the public that EU integration is entirely within the competence of the Government, the Assembly has an important role in this process and it is reflected in the political, legislative and supervisory role, which, however, the Assembly does not fulfill at a satisfactory level - the announcement states.
In the analysis, they point out that instead of the initiator of discussions, proposals, and a place for dialogue, the Assembly was most often a place for "ping-pong" between political parties, where almost every one of them at a certain moment put their interests above the interests of the state and the integration process and therefore blocked the election of members of the Judicial Council, i.e. judges of the Constitutional Court.
The control/supervisory function is still in the shadow of the legislative function, which is wrongly perceived as the most important function of the Assembly in the process of accession of Montenegro to the EU - the analysis states.
Following the reports of the European Commission since 2012, as stated by CDT and CEDEM, it should be pointed out that in almost every one of them the Assembly was criticized and encouraged to improve its supervisory function, and criticism was also directed at it due to the lack of constructive debate on the most important political issues of importance for progress in the negotiation process.
The only bright spot, both according to the available data and according to the evaluations of the European Commission, is the transparency of the work of the Assembly, and it has been praised in every annual report of the Commission since the beginning of the negotiation process with the European Union - it was evaluated in the analysis.
They remind that, in the report from 2019, the European Commission indicates that the number of control hearings in the previous year (2018) was only four.
However, from the available data, it can be seen that only one control hearing was organized in 2017 and 2020, which "broke" the infamous record that the Assembly had in 2012 and 2018, and which the Commission also pointed out. However, more important than the number of hearings held is the influence that the Assembly achieves, the quality of the conclusions and their follow-up, and here there is room for improvement - the analysis states.
They note that the impact of the political crisis in Montenegro can best be seen on the example of the Committee for European Integration.
Although the parliamentary committees continued with a certain dynamic of holding sessions, after two votes of no confidence in the Government, the Committee for European Integration completely stopped its work during the technical mandates of both governments. The last session of this committee was held on July 27, 2022. On the other hand, the president and the employees of the Secretariat of the Board did have certain activities - the analysis states.
They note that in the last Report on Montenegro, the European Commission pointed out that the parliament should in practice show its commitment to the EU reform agenda and work to overcome deep polarization.
Before the 28th convocation of the Parliament of Montenegro is that chance, it's about time for the parliament to understand its role, understand what is the interest of all citizens and start acting accordingly - concludes, among other things, in the analysis of CDT and CEDEM.
M.J.