The President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr.Darko Pajović and the President of the Assembly of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro Mr.Slavoljub Stijepović, Mayor of Podgorica, signed the Cooperation Agreement between the Parliament of Montenegro and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro on July 1st 2016. Agreement on cooperation between the supreme legislative body and the Union of Municipalities, primarily aims to improve the system of local self-governance through the strengthening of institutional dialogue between the state and local authorities in order to create conditions for more efficient and higher quality services to citizens and businesses by the local government.

The conference “Facilities in public use at the local level – Accessibility for persons with disabilities” was organized by the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro, with the support of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, from 16-17 December 2015.The conference aim is raising awareness of the accessibility of facilities for persons with disabilities, as well as analysis of the results of the removal of architectural barriers at the local level.

Upon the invitation, Union of Municipalities of Montenegro participated in a joint session of the Committee for European Integration and the Committee for Economy, Finance and Budget of the Parliament of Montenegro held on 11 May 2015, regarding the dialogue (consultative hearing) on the topic “Efficiency of using IPA funds and the Audit authority work responsible for the audit of EU funds”. On the behalf of the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro the meeting was attended by Secretary General Mr. Refik Bojadzic and Mr.Sasa Scekic, acting Assistant Secretary-General and Mr. Darko Mrvaljevic, Coordinator of the Network of Municipal Project Managers. In addition to the two committees’ members, the session was attended by: Mr. Aleksandar Andrija Pejovic, Chief Negotiator for EU negotiations and National Coordinator for IPA to Montenegro, Ms. Marija Radenovic, Director General for Finance and Contracting the EU assistance in the Ministry of Finance and Ms. Mila Barjaktarovic Chief Auditor of the Audit body.

Towards the implementation of the Law on Communal Police as part of the bylaws preparation for its implementation, as well as the obligation of local governments to prepare a Plan of internal reorganization, which content will be significantly affected by the structure of communal police services, the Union of Municipalities, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior has organized a meeting of Chief police services on 18th February 2015. The meeting was organized by the initiative of Chiefs communal polices of Kotor, Bijelo Polje, Budva and Podgorica.

Mr. Refik Bojadzic, Secretary General of the Union of Municipalities, stressed the importance of legal provisions for the quality of communal supervision and provision of communal order in the municipalities. He also gave a brief overview of the municipal obligations that should be implemented by the beginning of the Law implementation and related organizational activities as well as the training for communal police officers. He has emphasized the fact that the Law on Communal Police was adopted at the end of the last year, after the adoption of the municipal decisions on budget so the funding of the activities that are a prerequisite for the Law implementation is questionable. The further cooperation between the Ministry and the Union of Municipalities is necessary to overcome this problem, especially in the field of providing the general part of the municipal police officers trainings.

29 January 2015 – Problems in local governments financing system in Montenegro are in the focus of interest of local governments and its association, as well as the Government of Montenegro and line ministries. This is supported by two meetings on this topic which were organized on 1/29/2015 in Podgorica as a continuation of activities started at the end of last year.

The Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in cooperation with the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro organized the second pilot course “Management of the Renewable Energy Sources”, on Friday October 10th 2014, in the building of the Technical Faculty in Podgorica.

This course is being implemented within the TEMPUS project SD TRAIN (Training courses on sustainable infrastructure development for public services in the Western Balkans) funded by the European Union.

A study visit to Bulgaria was organized from 2-6 June 2013 in the framework of the Project “Strengthening Mechanisms for Public Finances at Local Level in Montenegro”, implemented by the UNDP Office to Montenegro in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro.

The Study visit on “Good Examples of Municipal Borrowing and Emitting Municipal Bonds in Bulgaria” was a forth organized visit within the project. It was continuation of a number of seminars focused at the improvement of capacities of municipal secretariats for finances by providing trainings, on-job trainings and exchange of knowledge peer to peer.

The Ministry of Finance and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro meet today in Podgorica to discuss current situation of the local self-government financing. Besides representatives of these institutions, the meeting was attended by Mayors, heads of secretariats for local self-government financing and representatives of state bodies in charge for affairs affected local self-government finances.

The round table on „Challenges in the implementation of the EU regulations related to the environmental sector” was organized by the Union of Municipalities and the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro in partnership with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism on 27 May 2013 in Podgorica.

It is assessed that role of local self-governments is very important in the environmental protection, and every municipality needs to give its maximum contribution to the goal. Full implementation of the EU regulatory framework related to the environmental protection represents one of the most complex tasks faced by national and local authorities.

Study visit to Slovenia on “Transparency and Accountability of Public Finances Managing at Local Level” was organized from 13-17 May 2013 in the framework of the project “Strengthening Mechanisms for Public Finances at Local Level in Montenegro” implemented by the UNDP Office in Montenegro, in partnership with the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Finance and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro.

The Study visit is a third organized within the project. It is continuation of a number of seminars focused at the improvement of capacities of municipal secretariats for finances by providing trainings, on-job trainings and exchange of knowledge peer to peer.