Human Rights Action (HRA) warns that the proposed Law on Salaries and Other Rights Related to the Exercise of Judicial and Constitutional Court Functions, which the Government of Montenegro has submitted to parliamentary procedure, contains provisions that endanger the accountability and integrity of the judicial system.

One of the most controversial provisions is the “official’s allowance,” which is wasteful and incentivizes leaving judicial service, and does not exist anywhere else in Europe on the same or even similar scale.

During the public debate, HRA presented proposals that the Ministry of Justice rejected without substantive explanation, citing the “irrelevance of our requests to the subject matter of the law.” Our proposals are relevant and concern key issues of accountability and integrity within the judicial system:

1. Extend the working age to 67: Allow regular judges, Constitutional Court judges, and state prosecutors to work until age 67, ensuring equal treatment with other employees and preserving experience within the judiciary. There is no justified reason why judges and state prosecutors should have to leave their professions a year earlier than other employees in our country.
2. Abolish or at least limit the right to compensation upon termination of office: The official’s allowance should serve as protection for those who lose their position against their will, not as a reward for voluntarily leaving office. Under the draft law, this allowance would continue to be paid in full to judges and prosecutors for a year after their term ends, and even up to two years before retirement if judges or prosecutors decide to resign within that period.
3. Establish loss of the right to compensation due to disciplinary violations: Judges should lose the right to this allowance if it is determined, after leaving office, that they had previously committed a serious or the most serious disciplinary violation.
4. Regulate salaries for trainees and advisors: Ensure that trainees receive at least the minimum wage for Level VII qualifications, and that advisors receive at least the average salary in Montenegro, in order to retain qualified personnel.

HRA calls on all relevant stakeholders in Parliament to consider our proposals and support them through their amendments.