“Administrative Board Aims to Address Shortcomings in Public Competition for Appointing REGAGEN Board President and Members”
Branislav Prelevic, Photo: Mina
Branislav Prelević, the Chairman of the Board of the Regulatory Agency for Energy and Regulated Utilities (REGAGEN), has urged the parliamentary Administrative Committee to rectify the deficiencies in the public competition for the selection of the president and two board members. He asserts that the competition fails to specify the necessary criteria.
“We anticipate that you will rectify these deficiencies in the public competition through the appropriate legal procedures to ensure the legality of the election for the president and board members,” Prelević remarked in a letter to the President of the Administrative Board, Jelena Nedović.
A public competition for the appointment of the president and two members of the REGAGEN Board was announced by the Assembly on January 21.
Prelević pointed out that the Energy Law, which was in effect at the time the competition was announced, stipulates that the public competition must include conditions and criteria for selecting candidates for the board positions.
“An examination of the public competition shows that it indeed outlines the required conditions and mentions the term ‘criteria’ in the phrase Conditions and Criteria for Appointments. However, the actual content of the competition does not clarify which criteria are applicable,” Prelević stressed.
He emphasized that the stated conditions are not equivalent to criteria, noting that the distinction is significant.
“The missing criteria in the public competition are essential for maintaining the transparency and objectivity of the selection process among candidates who meet the competition standards. Furthermore, these criteria contribute to ensuring REGAGEN’s independence, which is a fundamental aspect of its institutional integrity,” Prelević elaborated.
He reiterated that the Energy Law clearly mandates that the criteria for selecting candidates for the president and board members must be included in the public competition.
“The absence of these criteria in the public competition cannot be offset by including them in any other document. The principles of the Montenegrin legal framework are unyielding in this regard,” Prelević concluded.
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