The challenge of fighting corruption: XVI National Anti-Corruption Conference

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Published: March 18, 2024

The National Anti-Corruption Conference, founded by the non-governmental organisation MANS (Network for the Affirmation Promotion of the Non-Governmental Sector), took place for the 16th time in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica on 7 December 2023. In addition to IRZ, the EU delegation, the Embassy of the Netherlands and the US non-governmental organisation National Endowment for Democracy (NED) are among the co-organisers.

Holger Sperlich, Permanent Representation of the Federal Republic of Germany to the European Union in Brussels, presented the German and European experiences on the topic of "Prevention and sanctioning of conflicts of interest".

Montenegro, which has a new government since the beginning of November 2023, was found to have made only slight progress in the fight against corruption according to the European Union's last country report. Corruption, including high-level corruption, continues to be a cause for concern in Montenegro, the European Union stated. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that the conference is of particular importance in this region, and therefore members of parliament and government officials were also among the participants.

The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milokoje Spajić, spoke at the opening reception and the Minister of the Interior, Danilo Šaranović, and the Vice-President of the Montenegrin Parliament, Boris Pejović, were present as well. The discussions were correspondingly lively and controversial.

Project funding from the German Federal Foreign Office made the XVI National Anti-Corruption Conference in Montenegro possible, which also received extensive media coverage.