Commenting on the deadline by which the government and the opposition should take positions related to reaching agreement on the conditions for free and fair elections, Djukanovic said that his response to this issue was already known.
“I have already said – I do not require any preconditions on behalf of the government, but express my absolute readiness to agree on all issues in a principled way. The principled approach implies respecting the constitutional system and achieved democratic standards that qualified us for a fast progress on the path of European and Euro-Atlantic integration. Anyone who often sets this or that preconditions shows a lack of willingness for reaching an agreement. I think that is the prism we should see these statements that are repeated on a daily basis and new conditions that are set by those who are apparently afraid of the agreement and taking part of the responsibility they would face with if we formed a joint government and took responsibility not only to organise the elections, but also to accept their outcome”, Djukanovic said after his visit to Brussels.
He clearly said – he is undoubtedly ready to do his utmost to achieve agreement.
“My willingness is not questionable. I would say that is completely unconditional. I am ready to work hard with my associates in the coming days to remove the last shades of potential misunderstanding in order to reach a political agreement, verify it in the Parliament and create the conditions for constitution of the government which will include representatives of the opposition and which will be committed to creating conditions for organising free general elections”, Djukanovic said.
Djukanovic also commented on Demos’s leader Miodrag Lekic’s statement that 9 April was the deadline for reaching an agreement.
“As far as we are concerned, the deadlines are in the past. We were ready to do it a few weeks ago, but we have not come to that because of the demands that have exceeded those principled frameworks that I have mentioned. So as soon as we get back into this principled framework and show our responsibility to respect the constitutional system and democratic rules for which we stand, we can literally reach an agreement in the course of this day”, Djukanovic said.
According to him, EU officials have unequivocally confirmed that Montenegro is a success story in the Western Balkans and a very successful partner of the European Union in the region – a partner which promotes European values in the Western Balkans and represents a positive example for other candidate countries.
“I took the opportunity to inform EU officials I met about the dialogue between the government and the opposition and got the absolute support of the top European officials to continue the initiated way and to try to finalise negotiations and reach a political agreement that will guarantee a credible election process this year and creating conditions for the election of a government that will be fully committed to overcoming challenges in the field of economic and democratic development”, the PM concluded.
