WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE: ANTENA M / AUTHOR:M.J.
Despite the smoke bomb thrown in the hall, members of the parliamentary Constitutional Committee ended the session by adopting conclusions.
The Committee concluded to publish an advertisement for the election of two Constitutional Court (CC) judges elected by the Parliament, and to discuss with the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović that he publish an advertisement for the election of two more CC judges for whom he is responsible.
The Constitutional Committee session was aborted after a smoke bomb was thrown.
Three Constitutional Court judges have reached the retirement age - Dragana Đuranović, Desanka Lopičić and Budimir Šćepanović, MP Jelena Božović stated at the beginning of the session.
"There is a notice on the Constitutional Court website from June that the judges have decided not to inform the Constitutional Committee, which represents an extraordinary and dangerous legal precedent, thus derogating from the Constitution, all with the aim of keeping the Constitutional Court judges in office longer," said Božović.
DPS MP Aleksandra Vuković Kuč said that they prevented the constitutional coup that was supposed to be carried out in the Parliament.
"A conspiracy and a plot, which aims to prevent Montenegro from its Euro-Atlantic integration," she said, adding that this will not work like this.
"Stop this plan. This country is still protected by the Constitution, even though you are trying to abolish it. And Article 154 of the Constitution states that these reasons are determined by the Constitutional Court, which has not happened. You had some correspondence with the President of the Constitutional Court, but the President is not the Constitutional Court. We have not received any letter from the Constitutional Court to this moment. We demand that the committee ask the Constitutional Court for an explanation and notification of whether any of the judges have met the conditions for retirement.
We will not allow this committee to continue if you continue to brutally violate procedures like this. Because if you continue like this, it means blocking our European path," Vuković Kuč stressed.
Božović said that Vuković Kuč wants to block the work of the Constitutional Court, explaining that judges have automatically met the conditions for retirement and their decisions may be questionable before international courts.
PES MP Jelena Nedović stressed that we have arbitrariness in judges deciding not to notify this committee that they have met the conditions for retirement. She added that this is an extraordinary situation.
"Three judges are claiming to be above the Constitution and above the law. This is not about enforcing arbitrariness, but about preserving the Constitutional order and what the laws clearly prescribe," she said.
URA MP Filip Adžić said that this has never happened in Montenegro.
He told Jelena Nedović that she is clearly a bad lawyer and that her colleague Darko Dragović is not at the session because, as a lawyer, he is ashamed of what is happening.
"This kind of collapse of institutions is unknown in Montenegro. If you are claiming to be taking over the function of the Constitutional Court, are you aware of what you are doing? The occupiers respected the institutions better than you," he added.
Admir Adrović (BS) pointed out that if they support the conclusions proposed by Božović, they could enter the zone of violating the Constitution. He believes that this will cause problems. "The only way out is to continue the call for the seventh judge of the Constitutional Court and to complete it according to the Constitution and that way we will avoid a blockade," he believes.
MP Mehmed Zenka asked for a letter where the judges of the Constitutional Court said that they should not inform the Committee about what they are discussing today.
"You do not have that letter, you only have a letter from the President of the Constitutional Court who made conclusions based on her own indications. We are placing ourselves above the Constitutional Court," he said, adding that tomorrow other institutions will also decide to stage a coup when they trample on institutions.
He called for the ball to be dropped, stating that the government has already violated laws contrary to the recommendations of the European Union.
"And now it happens that we want to trample on the Constitution. If this happens - Montenegro will no longer have laws," he added.
MP Duško Stijepović from the Democrats said that the law is not being applied, but interpreted. As for the coup, this is not the first time, he added, addressing MP Adžić.
Adžić asked why he was addressing him, to which Stijepović replied that he had given him a cue.
"Come on, sit there," said Adžić, to which Stijepović replied that he should behave himself.
"The information that the conditions for retirement have been met is information, not a decision. For three judges, the conditions have been met, and there is no dilemma that the law on PIO should be applied. Here is an attempted coup by some judges of the Constitutional Court who want to serve in that mandate for a long time, but they cannot, I'm sorry, no matter what kind of lawyers they are," said Stijepović.
He added that it is not a bad decision to make a compromise, to reach a conclusion in the case of one judge, and to request the opinion of the Constitutional Court for the rest.
Adiž said that he would not waste words on Stijepović's legal knowledge, adding that he is a party bot.
"It is interesting that the fact that he is a party bot, and he is neither a judge, nor a prosecutor, nor a lawyer, speaks of how good a lawyer he is. I would not waste words on him as a lawyer. From someone who calls himself "When you call yourself a lawyer, we hear that the Constitution does not have to be respected," Adžić pointed out.
Stijeović replied that when Adžić tells him that he is not a good lawyer, it is a compliment to him.
"Let's not talk about how we started our careers. I started my career as a lawyer. If I am interested in whether I should open a kebab shop or a restaurant, I will consult you on that matter," he said.
Sonja Milatović from DPS said that this is to the detriment of the state.
"You have heard here that democracy is the rule of the majority, no, dear colleagues. Democracy is the rule of law. Being the majority does not give you the right to collapse institutions. The Law on Pension and Disability Insurance states that an insured person acquires the right to a pension, which means that he chooses whether or not he wants to retire. The Labor Law defines the termination of employment by force of law, which means that someone must retire when they meet the conditions prescribed by this law," she said.
Double standards cannot be applied to judges of the Constitutional Court, she added.
PES MP Vasilije Čarapić asked how it is permissible for a judge to repeal the provisions of the PIO Law on himself, a month and a half before the conditions for retirement are met.
"The Constitutional Court has initiated the repeal of the provisions defining the conditions for old-age pension. It is indisputable that the Labor Law is not being applied and that these judges have met the retirement requirements," said Čarapić, adding that judges are ready to suspend the Constitution when it comes to their rights.
Stijepović asked, in a situation where the judges of the Constitutional Court never reach that opinion, whether they should hold that position for life.
Milatović said that she had not heard the answer to the question of why the Labor Law is being applied to one judge, and the Pension and Disability Insurance Act is now being applied to three judges.
"What was applicable to their colleague does not apply to them," she added.
Adžić said that it is irrelevant whether the Pension and Disability Insurance Act or the Labor Law is being applied, but rather the procedure that was not followed.
"You give yourself the right to declare someone's death in this Committee without a death certificate, do not mock this Committee. "I don't think it's in anyone's interest to collapse the institutions of the state," he added.
Božović crossed herself and said: "Don't mention death on this Committee, angels be with us all."
Andrija Nikolić from the DPS said that it was clear what was behind this bad intention.
He said that the goal was to block the system and cancel the next elections.
"One principle cannot apply to Gogić and another to the others. You cannot take over the powers of the Constitutional Court, it is a constitutional coup and we will not allow you to do that. We know where this is being dictated from and we know where the motives for these actions come from," Nikolić added.
MP Boris Pejović said that he agreed with the thesis that the same action should be taken in the same matter.
"If they don't want to send a notification, we end up in a situation where the Constitutional Court does not function. In this case, the Constitutional Court would remain with five judges, it would have a quorum. We are all committed to ensuring that institutions function, our goal is for the Constitutional Court to be up to the task," said Pejović.
MP Boris Mugoša says that the Constitutional Court determines the occurrence of reasons for termination of office at a session and informs the Parliament about it.
"Only it can determine the termination of office because the Constitution requires it to do so, and then informs the Parliament. The Constitutional Committee cannot determine the termination of office, the Parliament cannot issue a public invitation without notification from the Constitutional Court. You cannot talk to the President of Montenegro, because he can issue a public invitation after notification from the Constitutional Court. Do not undermine the legal order, and I ask that the Committee not take over competencies that the Constitution does not give it," he added.
MP Jevto Eraković said that all opposition MPs came to the session with the intention of defending their country.
"This is about whether we want order in the country or whether someone wants to establish anarchy. Today they want to take over the role of the Constitutional Court here. This is a constitutional coup, it is important not to allow this dangerous intention that will have unforeseeable consequences," he said.
He told Marković and Novović to think carefully about whether this is a dangerous step towards undermining the national security of Montenegro.
He says that what is important here is whether the Constitutional Court of Montenegro is respected.
MP Slađana Kaluđerović said that the DPS came to play with force, to scare, threaten and the like.
"You can see what the DPS is doing, and think about what they would do if it returned to power. You had the opportunity when Vujanović was the president of the state for the third time, where were you then? Protectors of the Constitution, where were you when Medenica was the president of the Supreme Court for the third time. We see what your love for the state represented," she said.
Nermin Abdić from the DPS says that there are dissonant thoughts, and that there is clearly a scale by which the expertise of lawyers will be measured.
"As for other things, I don't want to get into the story, just as I'm not sure that a large number of colleagues would be able to cope in an operating room, but I want to say that there is an intention here to block the Constitutional Court, that there are courtroom rules," he said.
As he added, Due to the intention of the parliamentary majority to be above the Constitution, I am telling everyone that the continuation of the session will not end.
"We will not allow such an outrage on the Constitution of Montenegro," he said.
