Podgorica, (MINA) – Prime Minister Dusko Markovic hopes that the Draft law on freedom of religion will be in front of MPs by the end of July.
Answering to a question of Demos MP Miodrag Lekic during to PM’s Questions in the Parliament, he said that people who have never read it have been talking about this law for weeks.
“The highest officials from Serbia, including the president of that country, who did not read it. The highest church representatives who did not read it”, said Markovic, adding that the law was made in accordance with the highest possible standards and with the Council of Europe’s approval.
“The Venice Commission confirmed the quality of the law. It gave the right to the state to manage this issue in this manner. The VC told us what we should fix and we will fix it and have it in front of the parliament, I believe by the end of July”, said Markovic.
He remarked that a religious structure that does not recognize Montenegro, which was against the referendum, against NATO and the EU and taking any European step forward, cannot speak objectively about that law.
Speaking about the RTCG Council, Markovic said that the members of that Council are elected by the parliament, and that the government does not interfere with that process.
“The government is aware that freedom of expression is the fundamental value on which the EU rests. And more than that – media freedom is our democratic obligation. The election of the RTCG Council members is carried out in the parliament and the government is distanced from this process”, Markovic emphasized.
He rejected Lekic’s claims that the EU-Montenegro Intergovernmental Conference was “suddenly and unusually canceled” and that “it had been scheduled for the end of June this year”, explaining that it was not even planned.
It is clear, he said, that progress in the chapters of the rule of law and fundamental rights is crucial, and that it will determine the pace of the accession negotiations.
According to his words the situation is not as dramatic, as Lekic is trying to insinuate.
Markovic remarked that the government remains fully committed to the high-quality fulfillment of recommendations from this year’s European Commission report and that Montenegro will continue to be a promoter of European and Euro-Atlantic values in the region, which, as he said, is a fact that is recognized by every address.
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