CDT submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the Law on the President

Today, the Center for Democratic Transition (CDT) submitted an initiative to the Constitutional Court for the evaluation of the constitutionality of the amendments to the Law on the President of Montenegro concerning the change in the constitutional powers of the President.
This was announced by the deputy executive director of the CDT, Biljana Papović, saying that they welcome the election of female judges of the Constitutional Court, with the expectation that the fourth missing judge will be elected as soon as possible, and thus this court will be completed, so that it can perform its work at full capacity.
We call on the Constitutional Court to initiate the appropriate procedures as soon as possible and to issue a statement on our initiative as soon as possible. Bearing in mind that the disputed legal provisions already produce legal effects and create political destabilization, the speed of action of the Constitutional Court in protecting the legal order in this case is of great importance. The amendments to the Law, adopted in December 2022, disrupt the constitutional balance of power and change the meaning of the Montenegrin Constitution - stated Papović.
As she said, the adoption of this law is one of a series of actions by the parliament aimed at undermining democracy, after the unconstitutional postponement of local elections, the redrawing of constituencies during the election process, the dismissal of ministers in a government that has lost confidence, etc.
With the contentious amendments, instead of drafting constitutional norms, the Constitution was rewritten, taking away the constitutional powers of the President of Montenegro to propose a representative and to appoint and recall ambassadors and heads of other diplomatic missions of Montenegro abroad. The constitutional powers of the president of the state, who is elected in direct elections, cannot be subject to change through an act of lower legal force. It is particularly problematic that these decisions are the result of a political conflict with an individual who at a given moment performs the function of president - she stated.
Papović adds that the additional removal of the powers given to the president by the Constitution, as an executive body, reduces the institution of the president to a protocol body, which was not the intention of the constitutional writer.
That's why we appeal to the Constitutional Court to put our initiative on the agenda as soon as possible and to implement a transparent procedure of declaring about it - she concluded.
M. J.