Intergovernmental Agreement with the UAE in line with the Constitution

Following today’s position of the Constitutional Court regarding the initiatives to initiate proceedings for the review of the constitutionality of the Law on the Ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism and Real Estate Development between the Government of Montenegro and the Government of the United Arab Emirates, the legal framework remains unchanged, confirming that the intergovernmental agreement is in line with the Constitution.

In addition to the Government’s clear policy position and its vision of sustainable investments that would further position Montenegro on the global tourism map, today’s outcome also represents an institutional confirmation that the Government has safeguarded national interests through this document and has not granted a privileged position to any country or individual, as was claimed in a number of public statements by certain political actors.

Furthermore, the outcome of the Constitutional Court’s session reaffirms the principle of legal certainty, according to which existing legal acts – including the agreement in question – are considered constitutional until a competent authority determines otherwise.

In this specific case, given that the submitted initiatives did not lead to any formal action, the intergovernmental agreement retains the presumption of constitutionality, which applies to all valid legal acts within the legal order of the state.

As the Constitutional Court did not establish any inconsistency with the Constitution, the agreement remains an integral part of the legal system, confirming the continuity of its validity as well as the stability of the legal framework with regard to the obligations arising from it.

This is particularly important considering that Montenegro has already concluded similar intergovernmental agreements, including the North Atlantic Treaty, through which the country became a member of NATO, as well as agreements with France and Hungary, and the agreement that is expected to be signed with the United States.