COALITION EXPLOITS OPPOSITION BOYCOTT OF PARLIAMENT BEFORE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PODGORICA 000218 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON ELAB MW SUBJECT: COALITION EXPLOITS OPPOSITION BOYCOTT OF PARLIAMENT BEFORE SUMMER RECESS REF: PODGORICA 203 PODGORICA 00000218 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Montenegro's Parliament wrapped up its latest session on July 31, with the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) - Social Democratic Party (SDP) coalition taking advantage of the opposition's ongoing boycott of plenary meetings (reftel) to pass a raft of legislation before summer recess. Since January 1, 2008, Parliament has adopted 78 bills, over half of which were passed in last two weeks without opposition participation. The final plenary meeting on July 31 produced a debate between the two main governing parties over the draft Law on Concessions, which failed to garner enough votes. END SUMMARY. OPPOSITION-LESS PARLIAMENT EFFICIENT, SPEEDY -------------- ¶2. (U) After convening only four times between April 1 and July 1, Parliament as a body met three times in the last two weeks. Only deputies from the ruling DPS-SDP coalition, along with those from the Bosniak Party and Democratic Union of Albanians, attended these sessions. Opposition parties continued their boycott to protest the decision by Public Radio and Television of Montenegro (RCTG) to cease live broadcasts of all plenary sessions (reftel). ¶3. (SBU) Coalition deputies took full advantage of the boycott, pushing through legislation that would have prompted lengthy debate had opposition MPs been present. In all, Parliament passed 39 acts, including laws and decisions, during the three July sessions with almost no discussion. The most important items approved by Parliament included: -- a new Labor Law, which has been in the works for almost five years and which will increase the flexibility of the labor market and decrease government involvement by establishing work contracts, raising the minimum wage, and formalizing a social dialogue on the law between unions, employers, and the government; -- the Law on Civil Servants (which, despite our discussions with several DPS MPs, did not include amendments proposed by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) which would have given more authority to individual agencies to hire and promote employees); -- a bill rebalancing the state budget; and -- a new Law on Spacial Planning and Construction Objects, which will simplify the process of obtaining construction licenses for medium-sized buildings and ease the burden on the Ministry for Economic Development by giving municipalities more authority to issue such licenses. MILIC ELECTED HEAD OF EU INTEGRATION COUNCIL -------------- ¶4. (U) Coalition MPs also approved Socialist People's Party (SNP) president Srdjan Milic as head of the new National Council for EU Integration, an advisory body intended to coordinate and monitor the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU. DPS MP Mevludin Nuhodzic was appointed deputy head. (Note: the Council consists of a head and a deputy, six opposition members, the chairman and deputy of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee, the chairmen of other permanent committees, two members from the NGO sector, and members nominated by the President of Montenegro and the Councils of the University, Academy of Arts and Sciences, Judiciary, and Prosecutor's Office.) The vote was the cause of considerable contention among opposition parties, as Movement for Change (PzP) leader Nejojsa Medojevic also was vying for the slot. PODGORICA 00000218 002.2 OF 002 LAW ON CONCESSIONS FAILS -------------- ¶5. (U) The one discordant note for the coalition was its failure to adopt the new Law on Concessions. In contrast to other laws, DPS and SDP MPs hotly debated the length and value of concessions as well as which body -- the Government or Parliament -- should make these decisions. In the end, SDP deputies walked out of the session, and the bill failed due to lack of a quorum. ¶6. (SBU) Rasko Konjevic, SDP official and Chief of Staff to the Speaker of Parliament, told us August 1 that his party was concerned about government concessions for natural resources (land, hydroelectric power, oil and gas reserves etc). The SDP wanted to limit concessions to a maximum of 60 years (an initial 30-year term plus the possibility to extend for another 30) and to have Parliament decide on investments above 150 million Euros. The DPS argued for not specifying a term and for allowing Parliament to decide on investments above 300 million Euros. COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Coalition MPs -- working with machine-like efficiency under the direction of DPS and SDP leadership -- took full advantage of the opposition boycott to ram through a boatload of bills with minimal, if any, discussion. Despite their boycott, opposition deputies claimed that Speaker Krivokapic blindsided them by adding dozens of items to plenary agendas just prior to sessions. (Konjevic, however, explained to us that these mushrooming agendas resulted from the work of parliamentary committees which continued to approve motions for the agenda.) ¶8. (SBU) The dispute over the Law on Concessions reflects a larger ideological rift between the coalition partners over the state's role in the economy, particularly with regard to energy, natural resources, and other strategic assets. The SDP generally advocates that the GoM retain a controlling stake in key state enterprises which are to be privatized. Last year, for example, it blocked the DPS-sponsored privatization of the thermoelectric plant in Pljevlja. RMOORE