February 3, 2019 - A protest of unsatisfied citizens was held on Saturday in Podgorica, which gathered around one thousand participants. The cause of the gathering is the legal, social and political scandal known as the "Koverta" (Envelope) affair, as well as the numerous criminal offenses where the public receives written evidence, audio, and video, from sources close to the top of government. Citizens have organized a protest because the state in this and similar situations does not react as required by the Constitution and the laws of the state of Montenegro.

1000 Euros Envelopes- the symbolism is clear, Photo by Antonela Stjepcevic

 

With whistles and sirens, the citizens chanted "Freedom Street," "Stand Up, People," "We Want Justice," and then left 97 envelopes in front of the Supreme State Prosecutor's Building, with one page written "1,000 Euros" and the other named the many-yearly ill-fated affairs that the Prosecution needs to resolve. Inviting other citizens to join, protesters called "Everyone on the streets, raise your ass!"

In front of organizers- Jovan Gajevic, Photo by Antonela Stjepcevic

 

One of the organizers of the protest, Jovan Gajevic, said that "the most stupid of all of us decides on our destiny," as well as that "the Prosecution is pointing to the citizens." 

29 January 2019 - The area of Ulcinj Salina should be declared a protected area by the end of February, said the executive director of the Montenegrin Centre for the Protection and Study of Birds, Jovana Janjušević, in an interview for TVCG, adding that the real and serious job has only started.

The European Integration Office has recently published the Common Position of the European Union for Chapter 27 - Environment and Climate Change, which represents the initial and most important document for planning the obligations that need to be fulfilled within this area in the upcoming period. This document states that without the adequate protection of the Ulcinj Salina area, Montenegro cannot count on the temporary closure of Chapter 27.

The Common Position of the European Union for Chapter 27  explains that “the EU invites Montenegro to demonstrate its capacity to manage the Natura 2000 network by ensuring effective management of existing national protected areas, by affording the Ulcinj Salina the appropriate protection status and effectively implementing the necessary conservation measures leading to the improvement of its conservation status and by designating marine protected areas and ensuring their effective management.”

Ulcinj Salina is located in the outermost southern part of Montenegro and covers approximately 14.5 km2 of salt basins. The Salina is separated from the sea by the Brijeg od mora village and Velika plaža beach, and from the Bojana River by channels and dykes against floods. It is an integral part of the Lake Skadar and Bojana River watershed system.

Janjušević told the Mina News Agency that this is by far the highest level of support for the EU civil sector in the matter of the protection of Ulcinj Salina. "Until now, no country that negotiated with EU has ever had the protection of a particular site set as a condition for closing negotiations, which speaks primarily about the importance of Ulcinj Salina in terms of nature protection, but also about the specifics that it carries as a complex problem for the whole of Europe," Janjušević said. "We have just met a formal legal protection requirement, but effective management and responsible steering remain as difficult challenges in the coming period," Janjušević concluded.

She pointed out that Salina is an artificial ecosystem based on and suited for the industrial activity of salt production, and that its production has been carried out in accordance with the rules of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

The first act on the protection of the Ulcinj Salina was adopted in 1984 when the decision of the Workers Council banned all hunting. Several years later, the Ulcinj Salina became the first Important Bird Area (IBA) in Montenegro and afterwards became an Emerald site under the Bern Convention.

In the final study on protection of the Ulcinj Salina, according to Janjušević, two options were proposed: if the Salina will continue the salt production – the site will be protected as a national park, and if there will be no salt production, the area will be protected as a nature reserve.

29 January 2019 - At the latest session, the Government of Montenegro passed the Information on the conclusion of the Agreement on the transfer of credit and grant funds for the needs of implementing the project "Wastewater Collection and Treatment in Podgorica,"  financed from a loan arrangement signed on 22 September 2017 by the German Development Bank (KfW) and the Government of Montenegro, in the amount of 35 million EUR.

On that occasion, the Government gave its approval to the Capital City of Podgorica for loan funds provided by the arrangement with KfW Bank, and accepted the Agreement on the transfer of credit and grant funds for the needs of the project "Collection and treatment of wastewater in Podgorica." It is envisaged that the Capital City will transfer funds of a loan arrangement of 35 million EUR, of which the amount of 26 million EUR will be transferred without obligation to return, while the remaining amount of 8.05 million EUR the Capital City will be obliged to return to the State.

28 January 2019 - According to the information provided by the Parliament of Montenegro, the Committee members also met the president of the Republic of Albania, Ilir Meta, Albania’s parliament speaker Gramoz Ruci, minister for diaspora  Pandeli Majko as well as the members of the Committee for foreign affairs and subcommittees for diaspora and human rights.

During the meetings, both sides concluded that “Montenegro and Albania have fostered their friendly relations, mutual trust, and good neighborly relations.”

Apart from Nikolić, the Montenegrin delegation included other members of the Committee as well – Luiđ Škrelja, Halil Duković, Miloš Nikolić, and Ervin Ibrahimović.

Montenegro Ambassador to Albania, Dušan Mrdović, and Montenegrin consul in the Embassy, Danilo Brajović also attended the meetings.

During the earlier meeting that took place in Podgorica, Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković and President of Albania Ilir Meta agreed that Montenegro and Albania should join forces to make the best of standard potentials in many areas such as water management, tourism, and agriculture.

"The economic prospects of the two countries are serious, and the two governments should do everything to use them," said Prime Minister Marković, adding that bilateral political relations are at a very high level.

The meeting also discussed the importance of peace and stability in the region, and in that context, the importance of the membership of both countries in NATO, emphasising the significance of European integration as well. Prime Minister Marković said that Montenegro supports Albania's EU bid, adding that country is willing to transfer knowledge and experience from its negotiation process.

Source: Cafe del Montenegro

January 29, 2019 - After three months of peaceful protests against a controversial construction project and in defense of preserving a nearly century-old cypress park in the center of Bar, a port city on Montenegro’s coast, it looks like the battle has been lost. However, Sonja Dragović tells us that the activists are not giving up - by responding to the government’s oppressive and deceitful tactics with hopeful, creative, and sustained acts of resistance, they keep trying to reclaim their right to the city, note the editors of LeftEast introducing the article published on 26 January

The Montenegrin town of Bar, an Adriatic Sea port, suffered a major loss last Thursday morning when around 90 cypress trees, almost 100 years old, were cut down in an attempt to clear a plot of land for the construction of a new kindergarten. This regrettable action is not, as it may initially seem, the result of a lack of space for much-needed new pre-school facilities, but a direct consequence of urban planning malpractices that have had a detrimental effect on the development of the entire country. In this particular case, the lack of accountability and transparency – together with systemic discouragement of meaningful public participation – produced a disastrous result. The only possible silver lining is the newly awaken energy of civil disobedience and communal solidarity rediscovered among the citizens of Bar, who are determined to stand up for their park, their schools, and the future of their city.

The works were announced on October 15 when Bar’s mayor, joined by the Minister of Education, set the foundation stone while casually noting that the new pre-school facility will be built between the buildings of two existing schools, where the old cypress park was located. Even though this face was announced as a matter-of-fact, not-to-be-discussed-any-further, the protests began almost immediately with a group of high school students starting to shout at the politicians participating in the ceremony, expressing their readiness to oppose the works and the implied destruction of their schoolyard, of which the park is an inseparable part.

Human shields: citizens of Bar defending the cypress park. Photo: Anastasija Ivović

In the following days, the broader community began organizing in support of the cause. Human shields stopped the first attempt to cut the trees down, night watches were constantly organized, and a petition that asked for the park to be protected and for the new kindergarten to be moved elsewhere gathered more than 3,000 signatures. Meanwhile, students turned the protest into a festival dubbed “About Cypress Trees and People,” converting the park and the small amphitheater within its limits into a regularly occupied stage for local artists, debates, lectures, and workshops. 

Human shields: citizens of Bar defending the cypress park. Photo: Anastasija Ivović

Persistence paid off, at least temporarily, and the local parliament was persuaded into stopping the works and holding a special session to discuss the issue and vote on how to proceed. On November 15, the petition was dismissed - 14 opposition members of the local parliament supported the protesters, while the ruling majority did not: 7 were against their demands, while 13 were undecided. Activists agreed to continue advocating for their cause by using other legal instruments, primarily to examine the urban planning procedures that led to this outcome.

The plan for this construction project and everything it entailed was not new – it was only not discussed in public until the works were about to begin. The detailed urban plan which placed the kindergarten in the schoolyard was adopted in 2009 by the local parliament; upon closer inspection, it seems to be flawed, full of contradictions, and outdated. The building permit was first obtained in 2014 and renewed in 2017; it was issued even though the necessary documentation seems to be incomplete and the project itself is, to put it mildly, of dubious quality. All of these shortcomings have been discovered and publicized by local activists, who have submitted a request for inspection to the planning and construction authorities and filed an appeal to the Administrative court of Montenegro.

None of this really mattered. During the winter school break, while the procedures for assessing the validity of the plans were still ongoing, early in the morning of January 17, without warning, the trees in the cypress park were cut down. Since the official construction plan didn’t even account for this greenery (which was one of the shortcomings above), the authorities didn’t provide any official information on what portion of the park was to be destroyed, or why the works couldn’t wait for the official ruling on the citizen's appeals against this decision. Construction firms hired to do the job came from other cities. When the activists tried stopping them, the local police interfered and carried the protesters out of the park. According to activist’s accounts, 91 out of 127 cypress trees were cut down.

The damage Bar suffered is irreparable. The centrally located park provided protection from the strong sea winds and erosion, representing a natural oasis for the schoolyard and was, by all accounts, a beloved local landmark. So, why did this happen? In short, because it was convenient for the government, and because the wishes, needs, and long-term interests of the citizens are not the government’s prerogative. A longer answer would have to take into account flawed spatial planning procedures, which have for decades deliberately excluded people from the decision-making processes. The usual strategies of exclusion include lack of promotion for necessary public consultations, failure to provide the required materials in time and a format accessible to the broader audience, and the deliberate withholding of important (and possibly unpopular) facts. The goal is to have the consultative procedures formally fulfilled but essentially rendered meaningless, designed to confuse the wider public and discourage citizens from getting to the bottom of the planning process. What lies at the root is, of course, private interests - turning public space and public property into lucrative business opportunities for privileged individuals.

The case of Bar is not fundamentally different, even though the building in question is a public kindergarten – not a new tower built by some controversial “strategic investor,” as is usually the case. By placing the new pre-school facility for 400 children in the existing, already crowded schoolyard mostly used by high schoolers, the local government and the Ministry of Education have violated current planning rules and prescribed construction codes. Such a decision, however, was strategic - it preserved some other piece of publicly owned land in Bar for future, money-making construction projects. In this business calculus, a public park could only ever be a nuisance, an obstacle to getting rid of it – and that’s precisely what happened, common sense and the public interest be damned. One of the many sad ironies of this episode is that the construction of the future kindergarten is funded with a credit from the Council of Europe Development Bank, an institution whose Environmental and Social Safeguards Policy clearly states its commitment to promoting good environmental practices.

Source: LeftEast, author Sonja Dragovic

The Montenegro Immigration Law, which entered into force in February 2018, was changed recently.

In January of 2019, the new amendments to the Montenegro Immigration Law were adopted. The latest edition of the Law has already entered into force. In this article, we will highlight the most important innovations.

Temporary residence permit for property owners

The procedure for issuing the real estate owners a temporary residence permit in 2018, had perhaps the most significant changes and interpretations. Finally a temporary compromise was found before the adoption of the relevant amendments to the Law. In the new version of the Law, the residence permit from the real property possession can be obtained in case if shared ownership is at least 1/2 (Article 56 of the Law).

Temporary residence for employment

There are few changes in this part.

►A fundamentally new position is included. From now it is possible to obtain a residence permit by occupying the post of executive director in several Montenegrin companies. The Labor Law governs details of such employment. For ordinary employees, not directors, nothing has changed. A residence permit can be issued only for a specific workplace with a particular employer.

►Foreigners over 67 years old will be able to get a temporary residence permit as employees:  individual entrepreneur or executive director. In case of an executive director, there are some possible terms: the foreigner should be an executive director of his own company and have a share in the authorized capital of at least 51%. Previously, employment of foreigners over 67 was unavailable due to restrictions in the Labor Law.

Considering that the Immigration law gives no reason for obtaining a “pension” residence permit this amendment is more or less a mcompromise.

►Requirements for some terms have been changed.

The term for the decision-making process regarding the application for a working residence permit is reduced from 20 to 15 days. The period for signing a job contract and registration with the tax authorities is reduced from 8 days to 24 hours.

Quotas by profession are abolished, only quotas by industry remain.

Permanent residence in Montenegro

Children under the age of 14 and adults over the age of 65 are not obliged to provide a certificate confirming the local language proficiency when applying for a permanent residency.

Visa to Montenegro

An electronic application system is to be developed for obtaining a Montenegrin visa. It will be available on the websites of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Montenegro and its diplomatic missions. The application form is to be submitted online. Scanned documents which confirm the purpose of obtaining a visa, as well as passport and photo, are to be attached.

Considering that Montenegro has very few diplomatic missions outside the country, this measure will significantly simplify the process of submitting visa applications.