Political Risk:
Moderate
Score:
50/100
Defence and Security Policy and Policy Transparency
Q1
50/100
Is there formal provision for effective and independent legislative scrutiny of defence policy?
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According to the law, the Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defence has formal powers to review laws and policies. [1] The Parliament adopts relevant…
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The Parliament reviews defence policy, as prescribed by law, but attempts to influence these policies through formal mechanisms remain very limited (1). The Parliamentary…
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The Parliament’s majority rarely uses oversight mechanisms to control the executive, including in defence related issues, due to the political affiliations of the ministers.…
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Q2
33/100
Does the country have an identifiable and effective parliamentary defence and security committee (or similar such organisations) to exercise oversight?
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The Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defence is provided with various authorities to conduct oversight over defence and security institutions and obtain relevant information…
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Not a single member of the Committee has expertise in the defence sector. They are rather lawyers and economists. However, most members were MPs…
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The Committee reviewed two defence policies when the government proposed their adoption with only some technical changes. [1] [2] The Committee acted only upon…
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The Committee formally reviews proposed budgets of defence and security institutions and their expenditure, but does not submit any amendments. [1] [2] [3] [4]…
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The Committee does not conduct long term investigations nor does it commission an external body to do so. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] Instead,…
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The recommendations of the Committee are mostly very general and without any deadlines, [1] [2] [3] [4] while the Committee does not have a…
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Q3
25/100
Is the country’s national defence policy or national security strategy debated and publicly available?
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The defence policy and security strategy were debated by Parliament and its Committees, but no public debates were organised. [1] [2] Instead, the strategies…
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Public discussions of the defence policy and security strategy were conducted only by the Parliamentary Committee and the Parliament and these were very superficial.…
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According to the website of the Ministry of Defence, there has been no formal consultation process on defence policy or security strategy involving the…
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Defence and security strategies are adopted by the Parliament and published in the Official Gazette. [1] [2] A new Defence strategy is going through…
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Q4
58/100
Do defence and security institutions have a policy, or evidence, of openness towards civil society organisations (CSOs) when dealing with issues of corruption?
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According to a governmental Decree, all ministries, including the Ministry of Defence, are obliged to consult NGOs in developing laws and strategies. [1] The…
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NGOs are allowed to operate and laws regulating NGOs are not restrictive. [1] However, in practice, those who criticise the government are exposed to…
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Only one NGO is dealing with issues related to corruption in defence, and they experienced significant obstacles in establishing cooperation with the Ministry. [1]…
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Q5
63/100
Has the country signed up to the following international anti-corruption instruments: UNCAC and the OECD Convention?
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Montenegro is not a significant defence exporter. The country has ratified the UNCAC Convention [1] but not the OECD Convention. [2]
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The last publicly available official assessment of compliance with UNCAC was published in 2013, and the second round is currently ongoing. [1] Even though…
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Q6
38/100
Is there evidence of regular, active public debate on issues of defence? If yes, does the government participate in this debate?
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Debates on Montenegro’s accession to NATO were organised outside the government, mainly by NGOs. [1][2] Public debates on other issues related to defence were…
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The Ministry participates in occasional events organised by NGOs [1] and invited NGOs to submit proposals for project funding [2] and to participate in…
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Q7
63/100
Does the country have an openly stated and effectively implemented anti-corruption policy for the defence sector?
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The Ministry of Defence adopted the Integrity Plan of the Ministry and the Army and an action plan for its implementation. [1] This obligation…
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According to the Ministry’s report on the implementation of its action plan for integrity, only several superficial measures have been implemented. [1] Steps have…
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Q8
42/100
Are there independent, well-resourced, and effective institutions within defence and security tasked with building integrity and countering corruption?
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The Ministry of Defence has recently established an Integrity Department that has five employees. [1][2] The Department is present in the Ministry’s organisational structure,…
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The Integrity Department reports to the Director General of the Defence Policy and Planning Directorate, who is under the Minister of Defence. [1][2] An…
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According to the head of the recently established Integrity Department, the main corruption risks are presented in strategic documents adopted by the Ministry [1][2][3]…
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Q9
NS/100
Does the public trust the institutions of defence and security to tackle the issue of bribery and corruption in their establishments?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. According to the most recent assessments of political opinion in Montenegro, at the end…
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Q10
67/100
Are there regular assessments of the areas of greatest corruption risk for ministry and armed forces personnel, and are the findings used as inputs to the anti-corruption policy?
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The Ministry of Defence formally conducted a risk assessment within its Integrity Plan, [1] in line with new obligations emerging for all public institutions…
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The Integrity plan, containing superficial risk analysis, is adopted for at least four years, and reviewed every two years, while the action plans for…
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Many planned reforms are delayed [1] and simply transcribed to newer versions of action plans, [2] which remain superficial and fail to include important…
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Defence Budgets
Q11
42/100
Does the country have a process for acquisition planning that involves clear oversight, and is it publicly available?
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Acquisition planning procedures are not publically available, but the Ministry claims that they propose an annual plan to the government and NATO. [1] However,…
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According to the Ministry, plans for investments in the army by the government are made on an annual basis, and are classified. [1] In…
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The Government adopts plans for investment in defence. [1] According to the MoD, all major equipment aquisition is discussed and agreed with NATO within…
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Q12
50/100
Is the defence budget transparent, showing key items of expenditure? And it is provided to the legislature in a timely fashion?
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The defence budget provides total amounts dedicated for personnel (salaries, allowances), training, construction, procurement/acquisitions, maintenance of equipment, and administrative expenses, while information related to…
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The legislature receives an accurate defence budget proposal less than two months before the start of the budget year. The Government usually provides the…
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Q13
63/100
Is there a legislative committee (or other appropriate body) responsible for defence budget scrutiny and analysis in an effective way?
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The Parliamentary Committee for Security and Defence has the authority to review the Proposal of Law on Budget. Integral part of this law is…
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In the last mandate of the Parliament, the Committee made no impact on the defence budget. Instead, in its reports the Committee only acknowledged…
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Q14
50/100
Is the approved defence budget made publicly available? In practice, can citizens, civil society, and the media obtain detailed information on the defence budget?
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The approved defence budget is part of the overall government budget. [1] It is segregated in accordance with the rules applied to all other…
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The defence budget is very general, and it is not clear whether it includes all items. [1] The budget contains aggregated data for each…
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The Ministry provides general information about its work and procedures, and NGOs lack the capacity to properly monitor the work of the Ministry and…
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Q15
33/100
Are sources of defence income other than from central government allocation (from equipment sales or property disposal, for example) published and scrutinised?
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According to the State Audit Institution, the Ministry of Defence failed to properly report income from renting and selling property in 2016 [1] and…
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The State Audit Institution conducts an annual revision of the budget of the Government and all units, including their non-central government funding. [1] However,…
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Important information about defence income and expenditures is not publicly available, and therefore not exposed to public scrutiny. [1] For example, only total amounts…
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Q16
25/100
Is there an effective internal audit process for defence ministry expenditure (that is, for example, transparent, conducted by appropriately skilled individuals, and subject to parliamentary oversight)?
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Internal revision is established in the Ministry of Defence, but the reviews of defence ministry expenditure are irregular and superficial. [1][2][3][4] Some procedures for…
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According to the Ministry of Defence, the Internal Audit Department within the Ministry continuously examines and evaluates the validity and appropriateness of internal control…
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Internal audit reports are provided to the State Audit Institution only when under revision, which has occurred only once. [1] On that occasion, the…
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There is not enough information available on the practice of addressing audit findings that wlll enable this indicator to be scored. It is worth…
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Q17
56/100
Is there effective and transparent external auditing of military defence expenditure?
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The State Audit Institution in the defence sector has the authority to control the regularity (legality), economy, efficiency and effectiveness of spending of budgetary…
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The external audit unit is independent of the executive, and its Senate is appointed by the Parliament, while its budget is proposed by the…
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External audit information is published online proactively by the State Audit Institution, within a reasonable timeline and in detail. [1] The reports include analysis…
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The State Audit Report repeated some similar recommendations for the Ministry of Defence in its annual revision of state budgets. [1][2] The Ministry addresses…
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Nexus of Defence and National Assets
Q18
67/100
Is there evidence that the country’s defence institutions have controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation and, if so, are these interests publicly stated and subject to scrutiny?
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There are no restrictions on defence institutions or individuals having controlling or financial interests in businesses associated with the country’s natural resource exploitation. [1][2]
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There are no cases of defence institutions being involved in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. [1][2][3][4][5]
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No cases of individual defence personnel being involved in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation were recorded in major media outlets. [1][2][3][4][5]
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There are no cases of defence institutions being involved in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. [1][2][3][4][5] As such, this indicator is…
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There are no cases of defence institutions being involved in businesses relating to the country’s natural resource exploitation. [1][2][3][4][5] As such, this indicator is…
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Organised Crime
Q19
25/100
Is there evidence, for example through media investigations or prosecution reports, of a penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector? If no, is there evidence that the government is alert and prepared for this risk?
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There is a moderate likelihood of penetration by organised crime into the defence and security sector. There were at least two high level cases…
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The government is not actively tackling the problem of possible penetration of organised crime into the defence and security sector, but its officials claim…
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Q20
67/100
Is there policing to investigate corruption and organised crime within the defence services and is there evidence of the effectiveness of this policing?
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There is a unit within the national police force that deals with organised crime and corruption, including in the defence sector. [1] According to…
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Policing functions operate independently of the defence institutions and their budget is decided by the Government, [1] while the Military Police is part of…
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Montenegro is repeatedly criticized for a lack of results in the fight against corruption and organised crime. [1] The new deputy police director and…
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Control of Intelligence Services
Q21
63/100
Are the policies, administration, and budgets of the intelligence services subject to effective and independent oversight?
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The parliamentary Committee for defence and security is responsible for scrutinising the intelligence service’s policies, administration, and budgets. [1] The Committee has limited resources…
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All members of the parliamentary Committee have access to classified information and they meet at least twice a year to review the budget and…
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Q22
58/100
Are senior positions within the intelligence services filled on the basis of objective selection criteria, and are appointees subject to investigation of their suitability and prior conduct?
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The Director and Chief Inspector of the National Security Agency are appointed by the Government, upon receiving the opinion of the parliamentary Committee for…
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The Government appoints the Director and Chief Inspector of the National Security Agency, upon receiving the opinion of the Parliamentary Committee for Defence and…
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Each individual employed in the National Security Agency is investigated prior to employment. [1] However, in several cases, high level officials of the Agency…
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Export Controls
Q23
NEI/100
Does the government have a well-scrutinised process for arms export decisions that aligns with Articles 7.1.iv, 11.5, and 15.6 of the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)?
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Montenegro has signed and ratified the ATT. [1]
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This indicator has not been assigned a score due to insufficient information, as there are no available assessments of compliance with the ATT. All…
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This indicator has been scored Not Applicable, as SIPRI did not record any arms exports for Montenegro between 2015 and 2018. [1] However, arms…
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Lobbying in Defence
The Law on Lobbying in Montenegro sets the framework for regulating lobbying activities: it ensures comprehensive coverage of the lobbying community through broad but…
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Public officials in defence institutions are required to regularly provide the authorities with records for each lobbying meeting by specifying the details and frequency…
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In accordance with the Law on Lobbying, Montenegro has a mandatory registration system that allows public disclosure of a lobbyist’s identity, areas of interest,…
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According to the MoD, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption conducts oversight over lobbyist, with a clear and strong mandate for oversight of lobbying.…
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