The Union of Municipalities has once again prepared its “Bulletin,” a report on its work in 2024. In the foreword, the President of the Governing Board, Radoš Žugić, described the position of local self-governments, the challenges they face, as well as the various measures undertaken by the Union of Municipalities to strengthen the influence of municipalities on public policies.
The Bulletin contains information on activities undertaken by the governing bodies, standing and ad hoc working bodies, and the Secretariat of the Union of Municipalities with the aim of improving and safeguarding the local self-government system and all subsystems of essential importance for the functioning of municipalities. These activities cover spatial planning, taxation and financing, the management of the coastal zone, balanced regional development, public utilities and other areas falling within local competences, with a particular focus on provisions that create the conditions for decentralization and that needed to be identified in each individual regulation and national strategic document. The greatest challenge in implementing these activities is safeguarding the common interests of all or the majority of municipalities, while at the same time addressing the specific interests of individual municipalities—most often smaller municipalities—or groups of municipalities. Such interests need to be identified and adequately regulated, even though they are often conflicting.
In addition to the activities planned under the Union’s 2024 Work Programme and those arising from decisions of its governing bodies, this Report also includes a number of legislative activities undertaken in response to the increasingly frequent practice of the Government of Montenegro or Members of Parliament initiating parliamentary procedures for the adoption of significant legislation without prior notice, without the participation of municipalities, without public consultations or adequate analyses of the fiscal impact of such legislation, and with extremely short deadlines for responding, sometimes measured in hours. This required additional efforts by the Secretariat of the Union to identify mechanisms for having amendments submitted by the original proposer or another Member of Parliament.
The 2024 Work Program planned a total of 112 activities across various areas, all of which were implemented at a rate of 100%. In addition, 46 extra activities were carried out, meaning that the Union implemented a total of 158 activities, which is 41% more than originally planned.
