Constitution of Montenegro

The current Constitution of Montenegro was ratified and adopted by the Constitutional Parliament of Montenegro on 19 October 2007 in an extraordinary session by achieving the required two-thirds supermajority of votes. It was officially proclaimed on 22 October 2007, replacing the constitution of 1992.

Content

The Constitution defines Montenegro as a civic, democratic and environmentally friendly country with social justice, established by the sovereign rights of its government.

The preamble identifies the nationalities and national minorities of Montenegro as Montenegrins, Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, Muslims, Croats and others as citizens of Montenegro, free, equal and loyal to a civic and democratic Montenegro.

The Constitution identifies Montenegrin as the official language of the state, replacing Serbian after years of civil conflict. Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are all recognised as official languages. It declares that Cyrillic and Latin scripts have equal standing in law.

The Constitution also officially recognises the current flag and coat of arms as legitimate state symbols, as well as the current Montenegrin anthem.

The Constitution states that a citizen of Montenegro is not allowed to be made a refugee, nor extradited to another country unless in compliance with a extradition treaty.

The Constitution guarantees that religion is separate from the state.

The President is constitutionally limited to two five-year terms of office. A candidate must be a citizen of Montenegro and have lived there for at least ten of the prior fifteen years.

Ratification

On 19 October 2007, the Constitutional Parliament of Montenegro held a session filled with heated debate in order to attain the two-thirds supermajority of votes required to ratify the draft Constitution. 55 of the 76 members present voted in favour, the two-thirds supermajority was therefore achieved, and the Constitution duly ratified.
The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (which includes the Croatian Civic Initiative) and the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro, as well as the opposition Movement for Changes, Bosniak Party and the Liberal Party of Montenegro voted in favour of the Constitution. The Socialist People's Party of Montenegro, People's Party, Democratic Serb Party and members of the Serb List opposed it. The ethnic Albanian minority representatives ( Democratic League in Montenegro and Albanian Alternative) abstained from voting. The sole representative (and leader) of the Democratic Union of Albanians, Ferhat Dinoša, was abroad and unable to attend the session. Dinoša reportedly refused to vote because he did not want to be for the new Constitution, nor against it when Montenegro needed a Constitution.

Vaselj Siništaj, the sole representative and leader of the Albanian Alternative, refused to vote because he was not given a guarantee by SDP that Malesija would become a full-fledged municipality, independent from the Municipality of Podgorica. The SDP had refused to sign an agreement that approved a referendum to be held in six months to determine whether Malesija (Tuzi) would become a municipality. This agreement had been signed by DPS, PzP, BS, DUA, AA and HGI. It also established that the crosses will be removed from the flag and coat of arms of Montenegro, and the Venice Commission will supervise how the judicial council functions. Siništaj later reported that he believes that this Constitution was made for "future generations and better for tomorrow's Montenegro". Also, none of the amendments from any of the opposition parties was passed.

Miodrag Živković, leader of the Liberal Party of Montenegro, announced that the text of the Constitution should be acceptable to all the people of Montenegro. Nebojša Medojević, leader of the Movement for Changes, said that no one is completely satisfied with the new Constitution."> Medojević said that this will be the Constitution of all citizens of Montenegro, and its approval will help the country gain admittance to the European Union.

Milo Đukanović