During 2011 MANS observed plenary and sessions of all Parliamentary Committees, collecting and publishing data on the activities and performances of the Parliament and MPs.
In 2011, the Parliament of Montenegro had 83 days of plenary sessions, while parliamentary committees held 313 meetings. MANS’ Parliament Team directly observed each of those sessions and collected information on activities of each MP, level of work of the Parliament and its committees, use of the Parliament’s oversight mechanisms and other control functions.
In March 2011 MANS has published Annual Report on the work of the new Parliament’s Assembly in 2010, while in October 2011 we published the Report regarding Parliament’s activities in the first seven months of 2011.
MANS had also monitored implementation of Parliament’s Action Plan for Strengthening Legislative and Oversight Role. For that purpose we have developed a shadow report informing domestic and international stakeholders on the level of implementation of the Parliament’s Action Plan. We obtained the information on the implementation of the Action Plan by submitting FOI requests and directly monitoring each session of the Parliament and its committees.
Also, we have obtained voting lists through submission of FOI requests, after which the Parliament decided to publish all voting lists in the past two and a half years at Parliament’s website.
MANS had in total submitted 316 FOI requests to the Parliament during 2011, obtaining more than 90% of requested information.
In order to improve information sharing between MPs and citizens, in the reporting period MANS distributed 44 weekly newsletters on activities of the Parliament through 19 MANS e-lists with more than 3,400 members, but also to each MP. We informed stakeholders on laws that were in procedure in the Parliament and provided them with assistance to submit analyses, comments and proposed amendments to the MPs.
MANS developed two comparative analyses. The first Comparative Analysis was related to comparative experiences of citizens’ participation in the work of parliaments in the region in 2009 and 2010. The second Comparative Analysis was related to comparison of institutional framework, activities and transparency of parliamentary oversight in the area of security and defense in countries from the region in 2009 and 2010 .
We have submitted 11 initiatives to the Parliament’s working bodies and Parliament’s committees acted upon two of them. We submitted initiatives to Parliament’s committees on Agriculture, Ecology, Tourism and Spatial Planning, Security and Defense, Administrative Committee, Committee on Human Rights and Freedoms and Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget. For each submitted initiative we created public pressure through media campaign, necessary for the initiatives to be reviewed by relevant committees. In 2010 relevant Parliament’s Committees invited us to participate at nine sessions and provide them with further information related to submitted initiatives.
In February, the Committee on Agriculture, Ecology, Tourism and Spatial Planning revised initiative submitted on behalf of 150 citizens of Niksic , and the Committee session was attended by one of citizens’ representatives in this initiative. He explained to the Committee members the problems citizens of Niksic have, regarding the destruction of weapons and ammunition in their town. At the end of the session, Committee adopted eight conclusions to the Executive branch by the majority of votes of the Committee members and recommended to state institutions to provide citizens with the clear information regarding the contract on destruction of ammunition and to evaluate the impact of the procedure of weapon destruction on nature in Niksic.
During June, the President of the Parliament announced MPs’ salaries will be increased, although they have failed to conduct many key activities regarding fight against corruption and organized crime and citizens’ participation in the parliament’s work. Few days after the adoption of the Law on Election of Parliament Members and Councilors in September 2011, MPs prepared and adopted the Decision on the increase of their salaries by two average salaries in Montenegro.
In the beginning of September 2011 MANS has launched media campaign and issued an initiative to the Administrative Committee to withdraw this preposition. Members of the Administrative Committee adopted this decision , after which MANS organized a street performance ‘Give me a haircut’, bringing a sheep in front of the Parliament symbolizing citizens whose money is being spent by the Parliament with no explanation. This pressure resulted with the withdrawal of the decision of the increase of MPs’ salaries, which was done on the 28th of September 2011. Also, the Prime Minister brought a decision to withdraw the decision on bonuses given to the Ministers in the amount of 900 euro as well, which was a chain reaction to the situation in the Parliament.
As a part of our Fifth Annual Anti-Corruption Conference our special guest at the Conference was Dr. Naser Al Sane, chairman of the Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC).
After the Conference, we organized meetings with the President of Montenegro, Speaker of the Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the NC and representatives of Parliament’s Deputy Groups. During these MANS lobbied for the establishment of the National Chapter of Parliamentarians against Corruption, which was done in September 2011.
In December 2011 MANS prepared Draft Amendments on Spatial Plan of Montenegro until 2020 and submitted them to the Parliament in order to prevent selling of Salt Plant in Ulcinj. These amendments were supported by the opposition parties and one governing party and it was processed to the parliamentary procedure. The Draft Amendments should be revised in the first quarter of 2012.
