Montenegro – annual report 2022

Details
Published: September 4, 2023
Mediators from Montenegro outside the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Frankfurt/Main.
Mediators from Montenegro outside the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Frankfurt/Main.

Strategic Framework

Legal Policy Starting Point

Montenegro is pursuing a political and economic reform course within the framework of EU integration and has been in accession negotiations with the European Union since June 2012. Given persisting deficits with regard to the rule of law, the European Commission has called for further progress in negotiating Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security). With a view to further steps towards EU integration, Montenegro needs special support due to its acquisition of statehood just a few years ago, replacement of the long-standing governing coalition in the 2020 elections and the currently fragile political situation, with two governments having failed due to votes of no confidence in 2022.

Overall Concept

Since 2007, IRZ has maintained close working relationships with the Ministry of Justice in Montenegro, the Judicial Training Centre within the country’s Supreme Court, the Constitutional Court, the Notary Chamber of Montenegro, the NGO MANS – which addresses issues of anti-corruption in particular – and with academics at the Podgorica Faculty of Law. Moreover, IRZ established its cooperation with the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in 2019. A Joint Declaration on cooperation with a multi-year work programme has also been in place between the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Montenegrin Ministry of Justice since 2014.

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Foreign Office, the main priorities of IRZ activities in Montenegro during 2022 were on cooperation with the Judicial Training Centre and the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, with an emphasis on civil and civil procedure law, areas which are rarely addressed by other foreign and international organisations that support the country in its legal transformation. Work in the area of mediation added to these activities.

Focus of Activity in 2022

Civil and Commercial Law

  • Hybrid seminar on “Current issues and challenges of civil procedure law and its application” with the Judicial Training Centre
  • Use of an educational film on conducting court hearings in civil proceedings at the Judicial Training Centre

Administration of Justice

  • Study visit and mediation training for Montenegrin mediators in ­cooperation with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Frankfurt/Main and the Montenegrin Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution in Frankfurt/Main as a joint venture with the Federal Ministry of Justice
  • Hybrid training on “Private international law – applicable law” with the Judicial Training Centre in Podgorica/MNE
  • Training on “Legal provisions for competition protection” with the Judicial Training Centre

Criminal and Penitentiary Law

  • Annual conference on anti-corruption with the NGO MANS in Podgorica

Basic and Further Training

  • Talk on the different models of plea bargaining before the Association of Young Lawyers
  • Distribution of the journal “Continental Law – Journal for Sustainable and Expedient Legal Development” and the “Yearbook on Constitutional Law”, which were published in Serbia

Outlook

Support for Montenegro in regard to the EU Stabilisation and Association Agreement, work plan implementation and advice for the Ministry of Justice will be the priority areas in 2023. Working with the Judicial Training Centre and the Centre for Alternative Dispute Resolution, IRZ will move forward with its joint implementation of seminars on the application of the law in conformity with European law, mediation and, in particular, effective court hearings, and will also continue its cooperation with the NGO MANS.

Please find the Annual Report 2022 here: Media centre – Annual reports.