Montenegro

One of the greatest challenges on Montenegro's European Union road: Strengthening of administrative capacities of the Central Government

At the press conference held in the premises of the Government of Montenegro, the programme document for Capacity Development Programme (CDP) for the State Administration of the Republic of Montenegro Phase II was officially signed by Ms. Gordana Đurović, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration at the Government of Montenegro; Ms. Sanja Elezović, Director of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI ROM), Representative Office Montenegro and Mr. Garret Tankosić Kelly, UNDP Resident Representative a.i./UN Interagency Focal Point in Montenegro.

CDP Phase II, worth 1.9 million euros, will be implemented through 2007-2010. For year 2007 the programme partners allocated around 300,000 euros.

The Government of Montenegro, in partnership with the UNDP and the FOSI, first established a programme for the reform of public administration in September 2003. During its first phase the selected pilot ministries and Government institutions were provided with relevant expertise to help them make necessary structural adaptations, undertake on-the-job training, develop consultative procedures and employ new technology. Main CDP beneficiaries in the first phase were the Ministry of International Economic Relations and European Integration, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Physical Planning and the Office for Sustainable Development.

During the second phase, priority will be given to strengthening of administrative capacities for implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) and introduction of new coordination machinery and personnel at the centre of government. After the preparatory stage, the CDP will support a series of institutional and functional horizontal and vertical reviews, re-structuring and reorganisation in different key sectors of the state administration, as well as cutting across sectors.

Full responsibility for the executive management and operations of the Capacity Development Programme will gradually be transferred to the Government of Montenegro. This will be done by shifting the administrative and physical location of Capacity Development Unit (CDU) to the Government's Secretariat for European Integration. The CDU will work under overall guidance and supervision of the Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration.
 
“The goal is to help Montenegro to harmonize different sector approaches so as to reach the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which is the task for the second half of this year. The short-term priorities are the Central Government, the Sustainable Development Office and the European Integration Secretariat, as well as new competences of the Ministry of the Interior in regard to the European integration. This will help the Montenegrin Government and institutions to trace Montenegro’s European way more easily”, said Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Ms. Gordana Đurović. She estimated that “the partnership is taking positive steps toward the Government’s taking over the process ownership, for all the further coordination will happen through its institutions, which was not the case in the first phase”.

 
Director of the Foundation Open Society Institute (FOSI ROM), Ms. Sanja Elezović, said that the overall plan within this project concerns the European integration, for “there is a general consensus in Montenegro about the way towards the EU and its future in the EU. “
“Such programs are being implemented in many other countries, from South Africa, to Asia”, said Ms. Elezović. “We are helping the Governments of the countries in transition to strengthen their capacities so as to more easily enter global institutions and regional integration. There is a general consensus in Montenegro that the European integration means the future, which our Foundation supports. FOSI is active in the European integration process through the support to civil society, too”, said Ms. Elezović. She also expressed expectation that many bilateral and multilateral donors, together with the European Commission, would participate in this program.

UNDP Resident Representative a.i./UN Interagency Focal Point in Montenegro, Mr. Garret Tankosic Kelly, said the UNDP had defined European integration as the key strategic area of intervention in its Country Programme Document recently adopted by UNDP's Executive Board in New York. “One of the biggest challenges on Montenegro’s way towards the EU is strengthening of administrative capacities of the Central Government. The main objective of this Project is to build people’s capacities and ability to confront the legislative challenges that stand in front of them on the way towards the EU. The capacity building is the most boring topic because you can not depict it or show a photograph like you can of a new road. Therefore, the citizens should primarily be helped to understand the requirements of the stabilization and accession process, and afterwards to understand the requirements set forth in EU regulations known as Acquis Communautaire”, said Mr. Tankosić Kelly.