Administrative Court Annuls Government Decision Used as the Basis for Land Expropriation for Alcazar Energy Partners

The Administrative Court of Montenegro has annulled the Government’s decision establishing public interest for the partial expropriation of land for the construction of electricity and road infrastructure in the municipalities of Šavnik and Nikšić. On the basis of this decision, over the past several months, the Real Estate Administration conducted proceedings for the expropriation of private property belonging to Montenegrin citizens for the benefit of the private company Vjetro Park Bijela, owned by Dubai-based Alcazar Energy Partners, the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” announced.

According to the Initiative, the Administrative Court’s judgment raises serious questions about the legality of individual expropriation decisions adopted on the basis of the now-annulled Government decision, as well as the construction permit issued for the Bijela Wind Farm by the competent ministry, which affected local residents are also challenging before Montenegrin courts.

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“By judgment U. No. 3794/26 of 28 September 2026, the Administrative Court of Montenegro upheld the lawsuit filed by landowners and annulled the Decision of the Government of Montenegro establishing public interest for partial expropriation.

This was the decision that enabled the initiation of proceedings to restrict property rights over numerous privately owned land plots, formally for the construction of electricity and road infrastructure. However, the documentation used in the expropriation proceedings shows that the land was being acquired for the implementation of the Bijela Wind Farm project and its associated infrastructure,” the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” stated.

Particularly concerning, they added, is the reasoning of the judgment: the Government of Montenegro failed to submit to the Administrative Court the complete case files on which it had based its decision establishing public interest, despite the Court’s explicit request.

In other words, the Government adopted a decision interfering with the constitutionally protected right to private property and subsequently failed to provide the Court with the documentation necessary to examine the legality of that decision.

For months, the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” had been warning about precisely these shortcomings: an unclear and inadequately justified definition of public interest, an insufficiently specified purpose of the infrastructure, the absence of transparent documentation, and the use of the state expropriation mechanism within a project backed by a private investor.

“We particularly pointed out that the Government’s decision designated the state, namely the competent ministry, as the beneficiary of the expropriation, while the accompanying documentation identified the construction of the Bijela Wind Farm as the actual purpose of the project. A decision establishing public interest must not become an administrative formality through which citizens’ private property is placed at an investor’s disposal without a complete and verifiable legal basis,” they stated.

They added that the Real Estate Administration continued individual expropriation proceedings, with symbolic compensation starting from just EUR 15 for a period of 30 years. Decisions on partial expropriation were issued to landowners, and their appeals were rejected.

They recalled that, in the meantime, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property also issued a construction permit for the Bijela Wind Farm, which they likewise consider unlawful. Minister Slaven Radunović signed the construction permit, they stated, one day before the expiry of the deadline for appealing the environmental consent issued by the Environmental Protection Agency, which constitutes one of the prerequisites for issuing a construction permit. Appeals against the Agency’s decision were submitted to the Ministry of Ecology, and no decisions have yet been made on them.

“This judgment is not merely a victory for the landowners who initiated the administrative dispute. It represents a serious warning that citizens’ property rights cannot be restricted through decisions whose legality even the Court itself was unable to examine because the Government failed to provide the required documentation,” the Civic Initiative “Save Brezna” stated.

The Initiative added that it supports all landowners who are using legal remedies to protect their property and calls on the competent institutions to act without delay in accordance with the Court’s judgment.

“The energy transition must not serve as a justification for circumventing the law, denying citizens their rights, or violating the Constitution. The transition is profoundly unjust if the benefits and profits go to investors while citizens are left to bear the costs,” they concluded.