Montenegro
EU Member States Parliaments
Partnership with the Parliament of Montenegro was announced in February 2021 and concluded in 2022.
Activities
- Two in-person assessment mission to discuss needs and plans included the Parliaments of Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, and Hungary (October 3 – 15, 2021).
- Two Experience Exchanges on Oversight
Preparing MP orientations (April 7, 2022):
16 staff from the Montenegrin Parliament participated in an online event about how different EUMSPs organize orientation training for new Members of Parliament. Staff from the Parliaments of Austria, the Czech Republic and the Hellenic Parliament shared their experiences to assist the Montenegrin Parliament Secretariat to think about how they might start an orientation program for new Members.
Presentation of the Austrian Parliamentary Budget Office (March 10, 2022):
21 staff from the Montenegrin Parliament and two from the Austrian Parliament met online to explore budget oversight in Austria, the Austrian Parliament’s role, and the role of the Parliamentary Budget Office.
- EUMSP staff technical visits to Montenegro to Prepare Recommendations:
Enhancing Committee Recommendations (July 18-20, 2022)
Enhancing procedures to improve processing and tracking of written questions and requests for information (September 26-29, 2022)
- Oversight of Security and Defence:
In-person MP and Staff visit to the French Senate about enhancing security and defense oversight focusing on cyber security (November 2-3, 2022)
- Four Workshops to Strengthen Legislative Harmonization to the EU Acquis Communautaire:
Three workshops were organized in early 2022 to share specific methods and tools used by the EUMSP Parliaments to:
a) identify information sources needed for harmonization,
b) prepare reports on EU sectoral policies and
c) review the tables of concordance that summarize and describe the level of harmonization of each piece of legislation submitted for parliamentary review and approval.
Each of these trainings was attended by approximately 30 staff of the General Secretariat of the Parliament of Montenegro.
- Experience Exchange to discuss European Accession and a Draft Law on Parliament (October 3-6, 2022).
MPs and Staff from Montenegro met with peers from Croatia, the Czech Republic and Hungarian Parliaments in Budapest to exchange practices about accession processes and roles for Parliament and to discuss the Draft Law on Parliament to be prepared
by the Montenegrin Parliament covering EU Accession and the Parliament's and Government's role on various questions.
- Visit for staff from EUMSPs to work with colleagues in the Montenegrin Secretariat to prepare an MP orientation program (December 2022)
Outcomes
1. Enhanced staff and MP understanding, appreciation for and practices surrounding oversight.
2. Enhance tools and practices that the secretariat and committee staff can use to ensure that oversight mechanisms are effectively used, tracked and followed up on recommendations developed to streamline the process for submitting questions and requests for information and for tracking government responses. Recommendations included specific suggestions for the RoP, offered an outline for a template for submission of questions and requests for information and to enhance the ways that
committees draft conclusions and how their role might be strengthened.
3. Enhanced staff knowledge and skills and processes for review of legislation to be harmonized shared practices for processing and completing specific aspects of legislation to be harmonized.
