Milatović returns to the Parliament the agreement on cooperation in tourism and real estate with the United Arab Emirates
The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, has not decreed the law prepared by the government in Podgorica, which envisaged that the Great Beach of Ulcinj would be leased for 99 years to an Arab businessman, paving the way for the construction of tourist and residential facilities.
In a statement, the Montenegrin Presidency said on Tuesday that the decision was made due to “many open issues regarding the content of the agreement.” The laws were approved on April 23 in the Montenegrin Parliament, but were opposed by Albanian MPs and later became the subject of protests by the citizens of Ulcinj.
The agreement does not specify the location of the investments, but the Montenegrin government has announced that they are related to businessman Mohamed Alabbar's investments in Ulcinj beach.
The local community, environmentalists and the opposition have organized several protests against the law that envisages the taking of about 20 million square meters of this beach. The reactions of the community in Ulcinj were also mentioned as a reason for not decreeing the law in the decision of the President of Montenegro.
“ The main objections include deviations from constitutional provisions guaranteeing free competition and equality in the market; suspension of the implementation of domestic laws on public procurement and state property, including the possibility that Montenegrin legislation will be amended to implement the agreement; lack of legal and financial analysis of the obligations that the state assumes, which may jeopardize fiscal stability; determination of public interest without clarifying the locations and characteristics of the projects, which creates uncertainty for citizens; failure to clearly define the structure of the projects, in particular the division between tourism and real estate development ,” reads President Milatović’s decision.
The President also called on MPs to take into account all observations made by state institutions, civil society and EU officials, in order to protect the state interests of Montenegro. (A2 Televizion)
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