At the invitation of the President of the Venice Commission, Mr. Gianni Buquicchio, the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr. Ranko Krivokapić, participated in ordinary session of the Venice Commission, where the proposal on amendments to the Constitution of Montenegro was discussed, submitted by the Constitutional Issues and Legislative Committee of the Parliament of Montenegro, as well as amendments of Socialist People’s Party.

Amendments are primarily related to the issues of improving judiciary independence, autonomy of the prosecutorial system, as well as composition and the manner of election of the Constitutional Court.

In his introductory statement the President Buquicchio said that the current cooperation between Montenegro and the Venice Commission is an example of successful cooperation regarding establishing and improving legal standards in the important fields of the rule of law. Buquicchio said that Montenegro was a credible partner to the Venice Commission in all those cases.

Regarding amendments to the Constitution of Montenegro, President Krivokapić pointed out the importance of the past cooperation between the Parliament of Montenegro and the Venice Commission, especially referring to joint work on Referendum Law, Election Law as well as the procedure of adopting the Constitution of Montenegro.

“Venice Commission was indispensable partner in improving normative standards in very sensitive fields significant for stability of Montenegrin legal system”, Krivokapić stated.

He said that Montenegro was currently in the process of amending the highest legal act, in order to enable further judiciary reform, and that the position and the opposition contributed significantly to this process.

 “I particularly welcome the attitude of the Venice Commission that the amendments of the Constitution by itself will not be enough for improving judiciary situation, what confirms the attitude that normative changes must be particularly followed by strengthening of responsibility and efficiency in the judiciary, and I repeated it by myself several time’,  Krivokapić emphasized.

Also, he pointed out to the necessity of finding the adequate balance between the need to ensure independence and autonomy of judiciary from political influence, and request for enabling the necessary level of democratic legitimacy, in order to strengthen the responsibility of the carriers of judiciary functions. In that context, President Krivokapić had several proposals, accepted by the Venice Commission on the occasion of final adopting of the Proposal on Amendments to the Constitution of Montenegro.

Preceded by short discussion, the Proposal on Amendments to the Constitution of Montenegro relating Judiciary was adopted by the Venice Commission.

At the end of the discussion, the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Mr. Ranko Krivokapić expressed gratitude for the significant help provided by the Commission to Montenegro –  and its taking into consideration certain specificities of different systems, thus he expressed the expectation that provided suggestions would contribute to constructive discussion on the occasion of final adoption of the amendments to the Constitution in the Parliament of Montenegro.