Open Government Partnership Action Plan includes many novelties

As of the beginning of the next year, citizens will be able to check online whether their employers are paying their contributions, and the first specific activities have been planned to introduce a single identification document which will integrate personal ID card, driver’s license, health card…

The platforms for citizen participation in decision-making – eParticipation and ePetitions – will also be improved, and it is also planned to have all municipal portals standardized in the future.

These are, among other, the activities envisaged under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Action Plan that was recently adopted.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Public Administration (MPA), Mr. Goran Jovetić told “Vijesti” that the Action Plan includes five key commitments, which will encompass implementation of 23 activities.

According to him, improvement of public services, citizen participation, access to information – openness of state administration bodies, more efficient management of public resources and increased public integrity are among the key commitments.

“The principle of the Operational type was to have concrete and tangible projects that will improve a particular public service or allow better access to public administration for citizens…”

Mr. Jovetić said that the Action Plan was developed to a large extent through the principle of increased access to new technologies for openness and accountability of public administration.

The activities planned under the Action Plan include the national identification document, which should allow easier access to e-services of the public administration for citizens and the economy, and to all other e-services.

Standardization of the local self-government portals is aimed at promoting online access, and measuring the satisfaction of citizens and the economy with the services provided by the administration and the public services.

Citizens will also have access to the service of detecting and reporting infrastructural issues, through which, as the MPA indicated, they wish to encourage civic responsibility, influence the protection of security and environment protection, and valorisation of the physical working and living conditions.

Along with the online application “Is your employer paying your contributions?”, the service for online checking of M4 form will also be made available.

It is also planned to establish a national system for administrative fee collection, and to allow the use of open data in order to support start-up businesses.

Mr. Jovetić said that the membership in the OGP initiative is voluntary, but that it is important for Montenegro to participate in those activities, since this initiative fosters the “heritage of democracy”.

“In the last two years, important steps have been taken to improve the efficiency and the quality of services provided by the public administration to citizens and the economy. Much has been done, but we still have challenges before us, and this is one of the ways to deal with them. The Plan was prepared in a sincere and open atmosphere of cooperation between the government and the civil society, and the Chamber of Commerce, and includes the measures relevant for Montenegro and its citizens and the economy.”