The stumbling block of the current Podgorica government is the fact that essentially nothing has changed and that the city got a new-old government formed thanks to various pressures and blackmail, which was preceded by an insidious political fraud, Nermin Abdic, a member of the DPS presidency and the holder of that party’s ticket in the Podgorica early elections held at the end of September, says in an interview for Pobjeda.
One of the key people of the strongest opposition party at the national level, and now also in Podgorica, recalls that during three months of negotiations on the formation of the future Podgorica government, they insisted that “seats are not their priority, but the development of Podgorica, which has stumbled”. He also adds that he himself will never “betray the trust of 24,000 voters” under any circumstances.
“It is known that the representatives of the Movement for Podgorica changed their opinion overnight… Therefore, the city government as it appears now does not reflect the electoral will of the residents of Podgorica, which will prove to be true very soon in practice”, he believes.
At the state level, according to Abdic, the DPS currently cooperates with opposition parties “dominantly on preserving the constitutional order of Montenegro”. On the other hand, he blames the minority parties of the ruling majority because “they are not ready, nor do they want to take responsibility and be a key factor in driving the bad government into the opposition”.
Speaking about the call of the EU Ambassador to Montenegro Johann Sattler, for the opposition to join the government’s platform Barometer 26 as a starting point for the accelerated conclusion of negotiations with the EU, Abdic states that the DPS will “substantially, not declaratively” continue to contribute to the European integration process, “but it will never put its decision ahead of preserving the integrity and sovereignty of Montenegro”.
“That is why we are sending a clear message to the government and its PM Milojko Spajic, not to play with the country and harmony in it, i.e. not to try to buy time and survival in positions by pandering to the insatiable appetites of Greater Serbian nationalism”, Abdic stresses.
He also points out that “one cannot simultaneously be pro-European and make decisions based on the values inherited by politicians like Andrija Mandic and Milan Knezevic”. That is why he believes that Montenegro is closer to blocking negotiations with the European Union than to closing all chapters by the end of 2026.
