Informal Green Parliamentary Group established in Montenegro

The School of Democratic Leadership in cooperation with the members of the Montenegrin Parliament established an informal Green Parliamentary Group with the support of the German organization GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH). The aim of this project is to prioritize and put into the focus of decision making process the issues of environmental protection, sustainable energy, energy efficiency, climate protection, and sustainable development.

By joining the group, the MPs will, in cooperation with the civil sector, contribute to reaching this goal, but also get an opportunity to influence the harmonization of the Montenegrin regulations with the EU standards and rules in the sectors.

So far, eight MPs from ruling and opposition parties have expressed interest in joining this group by signing the Charter. The School of Democratic Leadership hopes that in the following period group’s lineup will be expanded by MPs from other political parties.

Members of the group will get opportunity to improve their knowledge in the field of environmental protection, sustainable energy, energy efficiency, urban mobility and sustainable development, to connect with their peers, experts and activists, to be more visible to the public and to connect with civil society organizations active in environmental protection, sustainable energy and sustainable development.

Within the activities envisaged by the project, a working lunch with MPs was held, where energy efficiency policies were presented and it was explained why this topic is important for society and the country. MPs also expressed great interest in the work of the group, noting that it would be desirable to establish a Secretariat in the upcoming period, but also to include the Parliament’s institution in the activities. The MPs agreed that incentive measures are necessary for the policies in these areas to be activated, stressing also the necessity of the political will.

Two-year program

“In cooperation with the School of Democratic Leadership, GIZ ORF-EE will continue to support the work of this group in the next two-year period through the organization of meetings with MPs, representatives of relevant ministries, as well as with experts in the field of energy efficiency, sustainable energy, climate protection and urban mobility, with the goal of strengthening their role in overseeing policies in this field and advocating for better implementation”, ORF-EE Project Manager Jasna Sekulović said.

These activities, supported by the GIZ Open Regional Funds for South Eastern Europe for Energy Efficiency and Biodiversity, are part of the Western Balkan 6 regional initiative.