06/08/2013 Monitoring
Strasbourg, 06.06.2013 - Nursuna Memecan (Turkey, ALDE) and Kimmo Sasi (Finland, EPP/CD), PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Montenegro, have welcomed the adoption of the constitutional amendments on the judiciary by the Montenegrin parliament on 31 July 2013. “We commend the political forces in the parliament for reaching a compromise and adopting these long-awaited amendments to the Constitution, in line with most of the recommendations of the Venice Commission."
"The election of the Supreme State Prosecutor, the appointment of the Presidents of the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council, and the appointment of the members of the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Council elected by the parliament, are now in compliance with European standards. This should strengthen the independence of the judiciary,” the co-rapporteurs said.
The adoption of these constitutional amendments was one of the commitments made by Montenegro when joining the Council of Europe in 2007, and a key requirement made by the Assembly in its Resolution 1890 (2012) on the honouring of obligations and commitments by Montenegro. The draft amendments had also been discussed with the Montenegrin authorities during the co-rapporteurs’ last fact-finding visit to the country on 8 to 10 July 2013.