Wednesday, 21 March 2018 13:40

Constitutional Committee holds its First Meeting

Constitutional Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro held its first constitutional meeting, which discussed the issues of ensuring all the necessary conditions so that the Committee can achieve the expected results

It was noted, however, that too much time has lapsed for the provision of conditions necessary for operations of this important working body.

The responsibilities of the Committee established by the rules of procedure has lead this working body to an objectively unfavourable situation. Namely, the established practice of distributing obligations among the working bodies in the preparation of plenary sessions so far has not imposed the need for the Committee to work like other committees. Narrow and very precise rights and obligations, exclusive dealing with the issues such as: amending the Constitution, procedural actions related to this, considering of proposals for determining the responsibility of the president of the state with regard to violation of the Constitution, as well as analysing the fundamental issues of implementing the Constitution, precisely define but also limit the scope of work of this committee.

It was noted that during the first year of the current legislature, there were no such initiatives. Members of the Committee concluded that procedure for more precise parliamentary assignment of duties should be initiated, in particular when it comes to delegating obligations to the Constitutional and Legislative Committee. The Committee expects that parliamentarians who have not yet expressed such need and interest will engage in this working body and its work.

They agreed to devote the next meeting of the Committee to considering a number of issues of a principled character, imposed by the previous practice and experience of implementing the Constitution of Montenegro.