On Tuesday 13 December, the EU Council, Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi and MEPs working on Montenegro called on Podgorica to appoint members of the country’s Constitutional Court (see EUROPE 13060/18).
Montenegro is facing protests after the adoption of a controversial law limiting the powers of the President and the failure of the Montenegrin Parliament to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court.
In its conclusions on enlargement (see other news), the EU Council expresses “concern about the decision of the Montenegrin Parliament to modify the prerogatives of the President by adopting a law under the urgency procedure”, underlining that all legislative acts must be in conformity with the Constitution.
The EU Council therefore called on all political actors in Montenegro to show responsibility, overcome polarisation and refrain from any action that could deepen the institutional crisis and undermine the country’s democratic institutions. “Montenegrin political actors must build a consensus in order to restore the functionality of democratic institutions and administration, which is necessary to achieve what has been declared as Montenegro’s key goal: EU integration”, the EU Council warned.
For Mr Várhelyi, “the appointment of the members of the Constitutional Court is necessary to safeguard the fundamental rights of citizens”. On Twitter, he wrote that the EU was in favour of all political actors taking urgent steps to ensure the Constitutional Court’s operational functionality, adding that the Venice Commission’s decision of 9 December should be respected.
For the chair of the European Parliament delegation for Montenegro, Vladimír Bilčík (EPP, Slovakian), and the rapporteur for Montenegro, Tonino Picula (S&D, Croatian), these votes “threaten Montenegro’s accession process and risk pushing Montenegro into a prolonged political crisis and constitutional chaos”.
The MEPs called for a rapid political agreement to end the mandate of the current government “without further delay” and pave the way for new parliamentary elections. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)