The European Commission has responded to inquiries from the heads of opposition parliamentary groups who asked the institution to answer the question of whether the proposed laws on internal affairs and the National Security Agency, as well as the amendments submitted subsequently, significantly change institutional respect and oversight mechanisms and, as they stated in the letter, call into question the protection of human rights. The European Commission responded that the data protection provisions of both laws are not yet fully aligned with the acquis communautaire, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation and the Law Enforcement Directive.
"To this end, Montenegro should align these provisions with the acquis communautaire either before adopting the law, or adopt the law and align the provisions before closing accession negotiations," the response states.
The European Commission will, as stated in the response to Andrija Nikolić from DPS, Miloš Konatar from URE, Boris Mugoš from SD and Adrian Vuksanović from the Parliamentary Group of the Croatian Civic Initiative and the Democratic Union of Albanians, carefully monitor the implementation of the law.
"The European Commission specifically expects the authorities to implement merit-based recruitment in the police and to establish appropriate procedural safeguards. It also expects Montenegro to ensure that any dismissal is based on justified reasons and that the person concerned has access to all legal remedies," the response states.
Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević told our Radio that all amendments, 12 in total, adopted by the Government to the proposed laws are in line with the European Commission, except for those relating to directives related to the Law on the Protection of Personal Data.
"The debate is already over, we will see how the MPs will react to it. I believe that the parliamentary majority will defend those amendments, that is, those changes that the European Commission has already given the green light to, with the obligation to continue with the harmonisation through the aforementioned law," she said.
President Jakov Milatović warned yesterday that, as he stated, citizens were partially deceived by the Montenegrin government, which, he recalled, claimed that the laws on internal affairs and the National Security Agency (ANB) represented a European standard.
"The goal here is the fight against organized crime and corruption. However, you know what the proverb says, the end must not justify the means. The proposed means here are wrong," said Milatović.
Recall that opposition MPs blocked an earlier extraordinary session of the Parliament of Montenegro when the agenda included a discussion on the laws on internal affairs and the National Security Agency. The opposition members stated that the amendments to these two legal acts had not been agreed with the EU. They stressed that this was an unprecedented crisis.
