Institute Alternative warns: A key year for EU integration begins without work plans of the Government and Parliament
The Institute Alternative has warned that the Government and Parliament of Montenegro are entering one of the most important years in the EU integration process without adopted work plans, which seriously hampers the planning of legislative reforms and the fulfillment of obligations toward the European Union.
In a statement, signed by Jelena Radulović, it is stated that the Government is operating without an adopted work program for 2026, while none of the 14 permanent parliamentary committees had adopted annual activity plans by the beginning of February.
As highlighted, during December 2025, 73 legislative proposals were submitted to parliamentary procedure, while an additional 23 were submitted in January 2026. An intensification of legislative activity is also envisaged in the Draft Programme for Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union for 2026, according to which the fulfillment of benchmarks and the closing of negotiating chapters by the end of the year depends on the adoption of as many as 122 strategic, legislative, and by-law acts.
Despite this, the Institute emphasizes that neither the Government nor parliamentary committees have adopted work plans that would serve as a basis for organizing this extensive legislative process.
Particular attention is drawn to the fact that the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure do not prescribe an obligation or deadlines for the adoption of annual work plans by committees, except for the Committee on Security and Defence, which is required to do so under the Law on Parliamentary Oversight in the Field of Security and Defence.
A similar situation exists with the Government, whose Rules of Procedure provide that the annual work program should be adopted by the end of the current year for the following year, but this deadline has not been respected in the past either - the work program for 2025 was adopted only mid-February.
The Institute Alternative assesses that without clear obligations, deadlines, and accountability, good practices remain the exception rather than the rule. They recall that in early 2021, Parliament adopted a Legislative Work Plan and an Action Plan for Strengthening the Legislative and Oversight Role, but this practice was never formalized through the Rules of Procedure and was not continued in subsequent years.
The analysis also shows that in previous years, a large number of committees operated without adopted work plans - four committees in 2025, one in 2024, and as many as eight committees in 2023.
- In a year in which the adoption of nearly 500 acts and the closure of key negotiating chapters are planned, operating without clearly defined plans poses a serious risk to the efficiency of reforms and the transparency of the legislative process - Radulović said.
The Institute Alternative calls on the Government and Parliament to adopt work programs and plans as soon as possible, in order to enable quality planning of reforms and the inclusion of other societal actors in the legislative process.