The overturned decision is yet another in a series of unconstitutional and illegal documents which were at the time supported by MPs. Consequences for the state and its budget can be measured in hundreds of millions of revenues that could have been gained from foreign investors and their interest to develop the land of Solana with luxury tourist facilities, airports and other projects.
Solana’s land includes as many as 15 million square meters.
The Constitutional Court found that in adopting the contested decision, Assembly exceeded its powers and thereby violated the rule of law:
“The Constitution, in this particular case, delimits legal functions in a way that the Government proposes a spatial plan, and that the Assembly adopts it. Buh here, the Assembly adopted this decision basd on a proposal of six MPs”, reads the decision of the Court.
It firther says adoption of the contested decision was not preceded by establishment of a draft planning document, nor submission of the opinion of state administration, institutions and other legal entities, and there was also no public debate organized to discuss the matter.
“The constitutional division of responsibilities between the branches of government, among other things, means that the legislator is not allowed to interfere with the principles laid down by the Constitution, which cannot be expanded, nor constrained.. This means that the legislator, by manner and results of personal interpretation, can distort the constitutionally established functional division or assign to MPs those functional powers which they do not have under the Constitution”, concludes the decision of the Constitutional Court.
Decision on Amendments to the Spatial Plan of Montenegro 2020, was adopted by the Assembly on July 26th 2012, with votes of the opposition, the Social Democratic Party, Bosniak Party and all Albanian parties.
The changes which implied that the land of Solana (majority owner Eurofond) cannot be used for building a tourist village, were prepared by MANS and signed by MPs Branko Radulovic, Radojica Zivkovic, Kemal Purišić, Genci Nimanbegu, Mehmet Bardhi and Neven Gošović.
Shortly after the decision was adopted, legal representatives of Eurofond, which was at the time managed by businessman Veselin Barovic, filed a request for review of its constitutionality, arguing the move was a mere political game.
Previously, it was declared in 2008 that the land of Solana can be built on, with the possibility of building a tourist complex on a plot of 15 million square meters in the vicinity of the Long Beach.
