- Government of Montenegro
Press release from 34th Cabinet session
Press release from 34th Cabinet session
The Montenegrin Cabinet, at its 34th session held on 30 July 2021, chaired by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code. The proposed amendment to the provisions stipulates that all measures of secret surveillance must, in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court, be determined by the court.
The Cabinet adopted the Draft law on the control of wholesale electricity and natural gas market and the Report on the public debate, which lays down the powers of the Energy Regulatory Agency and the regulated utility services, as an institution that supervises in this area. The proposed amendments primarily establish an effective system of supervision over the wholesale electricity and natural gas market, in order to prevent, detect and sanction market abuses.
In order to harmonise the national tax legislation with the directives of the European Union, the Cabinet adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Corporate Income Tax.
The Cabinet also adopted the Draft Law on Amendments to the Insurance Law. The main reason for the adoption of the proposed changes is the obligation to harmonise this Law with the Law on State Administration, which changed the status of the Insurance Supervision Agency, which was introduced into the state administration system.
The Cabinet adopted the Draft law on amendments to the Law on Social and Child Protection, to comply with the Law on Life Partnership of Persons of the Same Sex.
The Cabinet adopted the Decree on Amendments to the Decree on the Implementation and Procedure for the Use of Funds from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance of the European Union (IPARD II programme). Amendments to the Decree for the first time introduce the possibility of payment in advance (advance financing) to beneficiaries up to 50% of the approved amount of support, which will contribute to better spending of grants intended for Montenegro.
The Partial Personnel Plan of the state administration bodies and services of the Government of Montenegro for 2021 has been adopted.
The Training Needs Analysis for civil servants and employees was also adopted.
The Cabinet adopted the Information on Key Risks in the Implementation of the IPARD II Programme. The European Union allocated funds of about 39 million euros from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) for the period 2014-2020 for the agricultural and rural development sector. The funds are available to Montenegro through the IPARD II programme.
The Cabinet adopted decisions on forming working groups to prepare and conduct negotiations on Montenegro's accession to the European Union for the negotiating chapters: 2 - Freedom of movement for workers, 6 – Company law, 8 – Competition policy, 14 - Transport policy, 15 - Energy, 19 - Social policy and employment, 20 – Entreprise and industrial policy, 21 - Trans-European networks, 27 - Environment and 30 - External relations.
The Cabinet adopted the Decision on determining the basic and additional list of medicines. The list of medicines is harmonised with the List of Essential Medicines of the World Health Organisation.
The Decision on Amendments to the Decision on the Establishment of the National Commission for the Investigation of Accidents and Serious Accidents of Aircraft, Extraordinary Events Endangering the Safety of Railway Traffic and Maritime Accidents was adopted. The amendments meet the recommendations of the ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission for Montenegro from January 2019 and IMO control from November 2019. The decision appoints a chief investigator and individual investigators for air, rail and maritime traffic, which has not been the case so far.
The Cabinet adopted a Decision on the establishment of a Coordination Body for the Protection of the Marine Environment. The formation of this body will achieve harmonisation of the work of all relevant entities, which will enable efficient exchange of information, timely action and decision-making in a much shorter time frame.
The Cabinet adopted the Programme for construction, maintenance, reconstruction and modernisation of railway infrastructure for 2021. The Budget envisages funds in the amount of EUR 20,918,375.75 for the implementation of the Programme in the current year.
The Information on the Plan for granting concessions for detailed geological research and exploitation of mineral resources for 2021 was adopted, as well as the Report from the public debate.
The Cabinet adopted the National Gender Equality Strategy 2021-2025 with the Action Plan for 2021–2022 and the Final Report on the implementation of the action plan for achieving gender equality 2017-2021. The evaluation of previous strategies, as well as a detailed analysis of the situation in certain areas, showed that the level of gender equality is still at an unsatisfactory level. Practice shows that, despite the existence of legal norms, the institutions are still not able to provide effective protection against discrimination against women and persons of different sex and gender identities, especially those who belong to vulnerable social groups. Through several months of intensive consultations with various social actors and stakeholders, a process of joint recognition of the causes and consequences of inequality and harmonisation of the strategic response took place. The low level of gender equality in Montenegro has been recognised as a central problem in this area, and in accordance with that, the main strategic goal has been defined - to raise the level of gender equality in Montenegro by 2025.
The Cabinet adopted the 2021 Action Plan for the implementation of the Strategy for Improving the Quality of Life of LGBTI Persons in Montenegro for the period 2019-2023 and adopted the Report on the Implementation of the Action Plan for last year.
The Cabinet adopted the Information on the work of the Interdepartmental Working Body for the preparation of conditions for the construction of the South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) on the territory of Montenegro. The Information states that this is the most serious regional development project, launched in 2017, which has the potential to significantly increase the competitiveness of the region through the development of complementary technologies. This pan-European scientific-technological and medical project focuses on one of the biggest social and health challenges - the fight against cancer - and thus has a strong European relevance and perspective. The next key step in its implementation is the selection of a site for the construction of the future SEEIIST Institute, which should be known by the end of 2021.
The Cabinet adopted the Information on the provision of funds from the current budget reserve for the smooth functioning of the Municipality of Tuzi. On that occasion, the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare was in charge of providing the amount of EUR 500,000.00 for this purpose.
The Programme for Improving the Competitiveness of the Economy for 2021, worth 3,000,000.00 euros, was adopted.
The Cabinet also adopted the Programme of Incentive Measures in the Field of Tourism for 2021. The goal of the Programme is to improve the diversification of the tourist offer and better branding and promotion of Montenegro as a tourist destination through the development of event tourism, and the total funds allocated for its implementation amount to 80,000.00 euros.
The Information on the conducted analysis of retail trade margins on basic foodstuffs in Montenegro was adopted.
Given the importance of vaccination as the most effective way to combat COVID-19, the Cabinet adopted the Information on the allocation of tourist vouchers in the amount of 50 euros to all citizens over 50 years, vaccinated with the first dose of vaccine in July 2021.
The Cabinet adopted the Information on the need to build a house of agriculture in the municipality of Berane and gave consent for the construction.
The Cabinet adopted Proposal for the construction of facilities for the reception of foreigners.
