SIGMA Report Reveals Increasing Distance from Europe

Montenegro and its prospects regarding accession negotiations and our goal to join the European Union should be deeply worried by the notion that the grandly presented achievements in meeting the conditions might merely reflect the one-sided perspective of a select group.

The current state of public administration, along with the reforms undertaken so far, does not receive any affirmative feedback in the contents of the SIGMA report, remarked Nenad Rakočević, member of the Public Administration Reform Council and president of the Administration and Judiciary Union.

He participated in the Council session attended by, among others, the Council President, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, relevant ministers, members of the European Union Delegation to Montenegro led by Ambassador Johan Sattler, and the SIGMA delegation.

SIGMA is a program designed to enhance the governance and management of EU public administration.

The central topics of the session included the SIGMA report on the reform and current state of public administration in Montenegro, along with the presentation of the Draft Action Plan for 2025-2026.

Rakočević pointed out that Montenegro has faced significant criticism due to the politicization of the administration and diminished efficiency, while proposals for rationalization, depoliticization, and salary increases are on the table.

“Both through the material derived from the overall report and the presentation by the rapporteur of the EU delegation, numerous criticisms and recommendations were prominently featured. The existence of recommendations would not arise if the situation in public administration were satisfactory. The critical assessments and failures to meet established conditional principles obscure many accolades. The report essentially underscores the key systemic weaknesses and challenges that hinder reforms and impair public administration efficiency. The implementation of reforms is slow and insufficiently effective. The government fails to provide adequate and quality incentives to encourage and motivate both management and administration in the execution of reforms, resulting in demotivation and incompetence. The politicization in appointments and unmerited employment is highly pronounced, with 61% in management positions as of 2023. Acting appointments dominate managerial roles, which adversely affects transparency and highlights instability. The state has remained in acting status for an extended period,” Rakočević stated.

He emphasized that a crucial factor noted in the report is salaries, which are portrayed as low and unjustly determined, leading to dissatisfaction and a lack of motivation among civil servants.

“A recommendation echoed by relevant EU entities suggests that, in line with practice, salaries for EU management personnel could be increased by up to 100%. This would necessarily create an obligation to raise salaries for lower salary grades or executives. The SIGMA report significantly identified issues in public finance management. It concludes that there is no defined strategy for fiscal management, supported by the absence of a Fiscal Council to oversee and regulate public finances. The authors of the report did not miss the indicators of poor budget execution, various backlogs, and problems that have arisen in the fulfillment of budgetary obligations,” Rakočević elaborated.

As he noted, there was a critical appraisal of weak parliamentary oversight, characterized by a lack of transparency, public consultations, and specific analyses, alongside the ad-hoc passage of laws that have already created or may create significant issues.

“The report negatively assessed the functionality in the coordination of European integrations, leading to poor implementation of accession conditions, meaning we are drifting further away from Europe. The principle of accountability, crucial for removing detrimental factors, has not operated effectively, with such factors potentially arising from competence, expertise, education level, experience, malicious intent, or a combination of these. This brief summarizes only a fraction of the critical or negative observations of the SIGMA report, as the aim of this piece is to counter the inaccurate portrayal of certain successes and to express grave concern for both the future of our integrations and the broader implications for our daily lives and overall circumstances. The Administration and Judiciary Union participated in the session, providing a narrative distinct from that of the executive, realistically presenting high-ranking EU representatives with the genuine issues that hinder reforms in Montenegro and discourage quality personnel from public administration. Low wages that threaten livelihoods, non-transparent adoption of poor legal solutions, disregard for established agreements, politicization that undermines the quality of expert and other staff, non-respect for workers, or for the citizens of Montenegro, a lack of seriousness, and other issues encapsulate the union’s introduction of the genuine situation to EU delegation representatives and SIGMA,” concluded Rakočević.