At the 97th plenary session of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO), held from June 17 to 21 in Strasbourg, the first Compliance Report for Montenegro under the 5th evaluation round was reviewed and adopted. The report focuses on "Corruption Prevention Regarding the Highest Levels of the Executive Branch and the Police."

During the session, the recommendations made in the evaluation report for Montenegro under the 5th evaluation round, adopted on June 17, 2022, were discussed.

The Government of Montenegro adopted the GRECO Compliance Report for Montenegro at a session held on August 1, 2024, which paved the way for the publication of the report.

The Compliance Report is the result of activities undertaken by the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, the Government and the Parliament of Montenegro over the past 18 months to further improve the institutional and legislative framework, as well as practices concerning the highest levels of the executive branch and the police.

With the Compliance Report, GRECO acknowledged the activities that have been implemented and initiated towards further implementing the given recommendations, which is a positive signal for Montenegro and a green light for continuing reforms to meet the Council of Europe standards and to introduce practices that will bring Montenegro closer to European Union membership.

Montenegro is obligated to submit additional information regarding the implementation of the remaining recommendations by December 31, 2025, based on which the Second Compliance Report for Montenegro under the 5th evaluation round will be prepared.

As a reminder, the Agency for 50 member countries and represents the most significant mechanism for evaluating the implementation of Council of Europe anti-corruption standards. Montenegro has been a GRECO member since 2006.

The evaluation mechanism implemented by GRECO helps identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, forecasting the necessary legislative, institutional, and practical reforms. The GRECO monitoring system consists of two phases: the evaluation procedure, which results in a report with recommendations for further implementation, and assessment, which involves evaluating the measures taken to implement the given recommendations.