The Green Parliamentary Group (GPG) held its third meeting today, focusing on the presentation of the work of a coalition of civil society organisations dedicated to combating corruption in the environmental sector. Members of Parliament emphasised the need to strengthen effective mechanisms for preventing the illegal exploitation of natural resources and establishing an appropriate accountability system.

Within the framework of the project “Reducing Corruption in the Environmental Sector”, implemented by four civil society organisations -Organisation KOD, the Network for Youth Activism of Montenegro, Eco Team and the Network for Change – as part of the National Democratic Institute’s (NDI) project “Supporting Civil Society in the Fight against Corruption in the Western Balkans”, an initiative for establishing the “nadležan.me” platform was presented.

Members of the GPG noted that the aim of the platform is to digitalise the inspection system, enable more precise determination of responsibilities among relevant services, improve public access to data on reported cases of illegal gravel extraction and imposed penalties, increase transparency regarding the actual situation on the ground, and strengthen oversight of measures undertaken in this area.

The “crnetacke.me” platform was also presented, providing an overview of environmental black spots in Montenegro. Following the presentations by civil society representatives, MPs welcomed these initiatives, recognising their importance in combating corruption in environmental protection and expressing readiness to intensify cooperation in the coming period in order to establish an adequate legal framework for implementing the proposed solutions.

During the continuation of the meeting, the Green Parliamentary Group elected two coordinators: MP Bojana Pićan, representing the parliamentary majority, and MP Ana Novaković Đurović, representing the parliamentary opposition.

The meeting was attended by members of the Green Parliamentary Group: Zdenka Popović, Bojana Pićan, Branka Marković, Dejan Đurović, Ana Novaković Đurović and Miloš Konatar.

The Green Parliamentary Group was established within the framework of the project Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy, Transport and Climate Protection (ORF-ETC), aimed at strengthening the capacities of informal cross-party and cross-committee Green Parliamentary Groups in the Western Balkans in the areas of energy, transport and climate. The project is jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Western Balkans Network of Schools of Political Studies, and is funded by the German Government.