OSCE Mission presents report on implementation of legislation on civil society and public sector co-operation in Montenegro

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro presented a 2012 annual report on how the authorities have implemented legislation that relates to their co-operation with civil society on 14 May 2013 in Podgorica.

The report was part of an OSCE-supported project aimed at strengthening the democracy framework in Montenegro, implemented in co-operation with the Centre for Development of Non-governmental Organizations.

The findings of the report show that out of 32 public administration bodies, 11 published a total 95 invitations to non-governmental organizations to propose candidates for participation in the work of various working groups and bodies. A total of 83 civil society representatives were members of 92 working groups and bodies.

Sixteen out of 32 public administration bodies published their annual work programmes while annual reports on activities completed in the previous year were published by 19.

Assistant Interior Minister Veselin Vukčević said that although significant progress has been made, the report also clearly identified deficiencies in the implementation of the monitored decrees. He added that in future, more effort should be invested in order to improve the transparency and quality of work of public administration bodies.

The Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission, Waldemar Figaj, said at the presentation of the report that future reporting activities would help identify trends in the implementation of the existing legal framework in order to work on its further improvement. He added that the OSCE was commited to building and promoting democracy and an active and sustainable civil society.

Under the OSCE-supported project, a report on co-operation between local self-governance and NGOs and on implementation of the law on NGOs in Montenegro will be produced by the end of 2013.