The 98th plenary session of the Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) was held from November 18 to 22 in Strasbourg.

The Montenegrin delegation that attended the plenary meeting, representing the Agency for Prevention of Corruption, included Deputy Chairman of the Council Mladen Tomović and Assistant Director of the Sector for Corruption Prevention and Whistleblower Reports Kristina Braletić, while Ivana Mašanović, the First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Montenegro to the Council of Europe, represented the Ministry of Justice.

The plenary meeting discussed two evaluation reports within the 5th evaluation round, and 14 compliance reports from the 5th and 4th evaluation rounds, covering a total of 13 member states.

At this session, after ten years of presiding over two terms, Marin Mrčela from Croatia stepped down, and new leadership was elected for the GRECO body: President David Mayer (UK) and Vice President Antonio Delicado (Portugal). A five-member Bureau was also elected, consisting of representatives from France, Greece, Romania, Cyprus, and Switzerland.

The Agency for Prevention of Corruption reminds Montenegro of its obligation to submit additional information by December 31, 2025, regarding the implementation of recommendations from the 5th Evaluation Round, particularly recommendations I, III to XIII, as well as XVI to XXII.

The Agency is the national coordinator for fulfilling all obligations arising from Montenegro's membership in GRECO. Established in 1999, GRECO currently has 50 member states 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 to identify deficiencies in national anti-corruption policies, anticipating 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.