Civic Initiative “Save Brezna”: The Government Is Misleading the Public – The Energy Community Did Not Request the Urgent Adoption of the Controversial Renewable Energy L
The Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget did not accept the amendments to the proposed Law Amending the Law on the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources, which were intended to provide safeguards concerning the environment, protected areas and citizens’ private property. Four opposition members of the Committee voted in favour of the amendments proposed by MP Boris Mugoša, while MPs from the ruling parties abstained.
Yesterday, the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” submitted to the Government, all competent ministries, Parliament and the Committee the written position of the Energy Community, which had been provided to them on behalf of the Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, Mr Artur Lorkowski, with an explicit response that they had not requested the urgent adoption of these amendments, as the Government had claimed.
Parliament will vote on this law in plenary today. If it is adopted, according to the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna”, it will create room for the environment, resources for tourism, agriculture and rural development to be destroyed exclusively in the interests of private companies and their profits, and for private property to be taken through expropriation in the interests of private energy companies.
We recall that the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” has been trying for more than a year to stop the construction of an international energy hub and renewable energy hub in the centre of their village, which is an inhabited and tourist area. They are conducting an appeal procedure against the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development), have addressed the European Commission and the EU Delegation to Montenegro, and are conducting several appeal and criminal proceedings against Alcazar Energy Partners, for whose benefit Montenegro is expropriating private property.
We are publishing the statement of the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” in full:
The Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” warns that the Government of Montenegro is misleading the public, Parliament and citizens by claiming that the urgent adoption of amendments to the Law on the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources is an obligation towards the Energy Community, a condition for closing Chapter 15 or an immediate obligation under the Growth Plan. In its written response to the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna”, the Energy Community Secretariat clearly stated that it had not recommended that Montenegro adopt this law without a regular public consultation or under an urgent procedure. Furthermore, in publicly available documents, we have not found evidence that the transposition of Articles 15 and 16 of RED III is a formal condition for closing Chapter 15, nor evidence that the adoption of this specific law is an immediate condition for the disbursement of funds under the Growth Plan. InvestmentsMontenegro
This is no longer a question of technical alignment with European regulations. This is a question of whether the European agenda is being used as a cover for a law that may enable the accelerated occupation of space, private land and public resources for the benefit of energy investors, while reducing public control, public consultation and the protection of affected communities.
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The proposed law introduces several extremely risky mechanisms: coordinated mapping of areas for renewable energy sources and associated infrastructure, renewable energy acceleration areas, shortened deadlines for environmental screening, limiting the environmental impact assessment for the electricity network only to “changes or extensions” of existing infrastructure, as well as the broad designation of renewable energy projects, grid connections, associated grid infrastructure and energy storage systems as projects of overriding public interest.
In a country with weak institutions, an insufficiently strong judiciary, limited inspection and professional capacities, and deeply damaged public trust in spatial planning processes, such a law is extremely dangerous. It may become a tool for circumventing the public, accelerating controversial projects and legalising pressure on local communities.
The Energy Community Secretariat clearly stated that RED III does not abolish the obligations concerning strategic environmental assessment, public consultations, the mapping of sensitive areas, cumulative assessment and the consideration of reasonable alternatives. It also indicated that the presumption of overriding public interest cannot be treated as an automatic blanket status for all projects, but rather as a limited legal instrument applied in specific cases and in accordance with prescribed safeguards.
In direct contrast to this, the Government is proposing the law under an urgent procedure, without a regular public consultation, without a serious RIA analysis and without responding to comments from affected communities and the professional public.
The Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” addressed Parliament, the Government, the Ministry of Energy and Mining, the Ministry of European Affairs and other competent institutions, requesting that this law be withdrawn from the urgent procedure and considered under the regular procedure, with a public consultation and the participation of the professional public and interested citizens. We submitted written comments to the Ministry of Energy. To date, we have not received a substantive response.
Comments on the law were also submitted by the international Bankwatch network and the Montenegrin Ecologists Society. According to our information, no substantive response was provided to their comments either.
The legitimate question therefore arises: if the Energy Community Secretariat did not request urgent adoption, if there is no publicly available evidence that this is a formal condition for closing Chapter 15, if it has not been demonstrated that the law is an immediate condition for the Growth Plan, and if the professional public and affected communities have not been heard — who is actually in such a hurry?
Such a law could have direct consequences for places such as Brezna, where a large 400/110 kV energy hub is planned, connected to future renewable energy projects, transmission lines and transmission infrastructure, in an inhabited rural and tourist area with documented geological, environmental and social risks.
The Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” is not opposed to renewable energy sources. On the contrary, the energy transition must be lawful, transparent, planned and fair. However, the transition must not be used as an excuse for seizing space, undermining the public interest, ignoring local communities and turning villages into industrial zones without a genuine assessment of the consequences.
We call on the Parliament of Montenegro not to adopt this law under an urgent procedure. InvestmentsMontenegro
We call on the Government to publish every document demonstrating its claim that the transposition of Articles 15 and 16 of RED III is a formal condition for closing Chapter 15, and every document demonstrating that the adoption of this specific law is an immediate condition for obtaining funds under the Growth Plan.
We demand that the law be returned to the regular procedure, that a public consultation be organised, that a genuine regulatory impact assessment be conducted, that the professional public and affected communities be heard, and that provisions enabling the blanket designation of renewable energy projects and associated infrastructure as being of overriding public interest be removed from the law.
European rules do not exist to exclude the public. European rules exist to protect the public interest, the environment, private property and local communities from the arbitrariness of authorities and investors.
For the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna”, this is not a theoretical question.
The planned Brezna 400/110 kV TS/SS is envisaged as a major energy hub for the transmission network and the connection of numerous future renewable energy projects. Public documentation shows that this is infrastructure of regional and international significance, connected to transmission lines, cross-border interconnections and future renewable energy connections.
At the same time, Brezna is an inhabited rural and tourist area, with houses, agricultural households, tourist facilities, cultural and historical heritage, and documented geological and geotechnical risks.
The construction of an international energy hub in the centre of an inhabited tourist area and agrotourism region would mean the complete destruction of current economic activities — rural tourism and agriculture; threats to health and life due to the cumulative effects of electromagnetic radiation from the numerous planned future transmission lines, battery facilities and renewable energy projects; and the complete devaluation of residents’ property and investments due to the transformation of the region into a heavy industrial zone. Ultimately, all of this means the de facto, certain and state-planned displacement of the entire local community, without any compensatory measures whatsoever.
Therefore, any legal solution that allows such projects to be treated automatically as being of overriding public interest, without a genuine assessment of alternatives, cumulative impacts and consequences for private property and the local community, would represent a serious risk to the rule of law, public trust and Montenegro’s European path. InvestmentsMontenegro
Civic Initiative “Save Brezna”
