At a press conference held after the meeting, Minister António Leitão Amaro emphasized that the new code will “explicitly affirm that the corruption risk prevention plan approved by the previous government will remain in effect.”
This plan was only published in early June in the Diário da República, approximately eight months after the initially stipulated date for its disclosure.
As stated in the Diário da República on June 5, the plan aims to “reduce the risks of conflicts of interest” and promote “transparency regarding the members of the Government and the members of the cabinets.”
Minister Leitão Amaro announced a draft law for the creation of a unit for foreigners and borders within the Public Security Police. The goal is for the country to once again have a “border police.” All details were discussed at the briefing following the Council of Ministers.
The creation and implementation of this risk prevention plan were announced in April last year when the code of conduct for the XXIV Constitutional Government was approved.
At the time of the decree’s publication, a period of 180 days was given to adopt the plan, setting October as the deadline.
However, it was only signed by the prime minister on February 13 of this year and published in early June, more than eight months after the defined 180-day deadline.
The plan signed by Luís Montenegro states that the Government acknowledges corruption as “a serious issue affecting the quality of democracy, the efficiency of public management, the equity of resource distribution, and public trust in institutions.”
A total of 33 measures are indicated for potential conflicts of interest situations, including asset management, public procurement, legislative procedure, concurrent function performance, discretionary power in administrative decisions, activities of entities delegated with public functions, and access to databases and IT records.
Among the measures, the Government requires its members to “submit and maintain updated declarations of income, assets, interests, incompatibilities, and impediments to the Entity for Transparency.”
Furthermore, it was foreseen that government members participate in training sessions on conflict of interest and prevention management.
In the realm of conflict of interest prevention, it is indicated that “appropriate measures” should be adopted, which include “the necessity for recusal requests and, in situations where substitution is impossible, abstention from decision-making.”
The risk prevention plan was prepared in collaboration with the National Anti-Corruption Mechanism (MENAC) and, once published, “each minister is responsible” for its enforcement.
The Code of Conduct approved last April for the XXIV Constitutional Government allowed the possibility for the prime minister, before appointing ministers, to request an opinion on whether a potential government official is in a conflict of interest.
The first government of Montenegro maintained previous provisions regarding the acceptance of invitations or offers limited to the value of 150 euros, provided they were compatible with the institutional nature of the role, and added the duty of communication to the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, which must maintain a public access registry.
Another innovation of this first code of conduct was the creation of an anonymous “whistleblower channel” through a form available on the Government Portal, which would function “independently and autonomously” from other communication channels to ensure confidentiality.
At that time, it was anticipated that the Code of Conduct would reflect measures to be approved to combat corruption in matters such as lobbying, transparency, and the regulation of contacts between public entities, which did not advance in the previous legislature.
