Trust in the Prosecutor’s Office is disturbingly fragile, said Vice-President of the Government and Minister of Justice, Mr Zoran Pažin at the conference entitled “Montenegro’s challenges in negotiating chapters 23 and 24”.
It is natural, he says, that the Government assumes responsibility for the current situation in the society.
Mr Pažin pointed out that Prosecutor’s Office made part of the executive power in every constitutional system of the most developed democratic states.
“Today, expecting the Government to give answers to the questions related to the quality of the work of Prosecutor’s Office would not be regarded seriously. Legislative power has more competences but it doesn’t have all the mechanisms to perform supervision over the work of the Prosecutor’s Office. No real legal theoretician it practitioner can answer the question what part of the government Prosecutor’s Office belongs to”, said Mr Pažin.
He added that detailed analysis of the parameters relevant to the rule of law had shown that the Prosecutor’s Office in Montenegro was more independent that the judicial power.
Such legal solutions were sought by representatives of opposition parties.
“However, I don’t see that those political parties try to find solutions to the problems that occurred as a consequence of such constitutional solutions”, Mr Pažin said.
Back in 2013, when those solutions were adopted, Mr Pažin strongly opposed such proposals, that had no stronghold in the most developed democracies.
“Today we have some sort of distorted democratic balance, that reflects in the fact that the attitude of political minority is more important than the opinion of the political majority”, Mr Pažin said.
In the past years, a lot has been invested in the education of judges, prosecutors and representatives in independent regulatory bodies and agencies. It is now necessary to make assessment of the effects of such activities, adds Mr Pažin.
Blocking EU accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia Mr Pažin sees as a very negative decision.
Mr Aleksandar Drljević, main negotiator, said that everybody wanted the enlargement process to be faster and more intense.
“The information from Brussels shocked us. However, Montenegro cannot be discouraged, as we have been in the negotiation process for so long”, Mr Drljević said.
He states that we are witnessing a halt in the enlargement process.
