The Socialist People’s Party (SNP) started to collect signatures for a referendum on Montenegro’s membership in NATO yesterday and its president Srdjan Milic was the first to sign the petition.
“He did not hide his optimism: ‘We want to say no with a smile, not with anger’, he said. Those who know Milic’s character and work believes he actually was encouraging himself by that smile. Because, he is aware in advance that this will be his another political defeat, which he will try to present as a victory. It sounds so familiar”, DPS stated.
They added that this Milic’s action was futile.
“Milic is not so politically illiterate not to be aware of the futility of such an action. Launching campaign against NATO in Montenegro now is like joining Chetniks after September 1943. In addition, he knows he started too early. The issue of the way in which Montenegro will decide on joining the Alliance will be topical in a year at the earliest,” DPS said.
They wonder why Milic is doing this.
“Neither the majority Montenegro will give up its strategic goal – membership in NATO, nor NATO will be particularly concerned about Milic’s actions, despite the fact he is running it without anger and with a smile,” DPS stated.
The party argues that this is just another Milic’s political bluff.
“He attempts to collect as many points as possible with one action. I would like to be accepted by Serbs, but more by Russians and to some extent by the West, offering the latter a democratic mask in the form of a proposal for a referendum. And in fact, this is an action intended to the DF’s electorate. Milic thinks he will easily trick Mandic. He believes other DF members are not at his level. He hopes that he will win support of a part of radical pro-Serbian electorate for SNP through his mute presence at the protests, taking over their rhetoric when it comes to NATO and making one move ahead with this action. At the same time, he is faking a great political strategist who partly participates in the parliamentary dialogue and partly does not. Partly in the Parliament, partly in front of it,” DPS said.
It added that recent surveys showed he barely manages to keep the party rating at the level of the rating of Aleksa Becic. In order to make SNP an opposition leader at all costs, Milic leads his Party to the brink of electoral threshold. It is certainly easier for him to simulate great political actions, than to explain to the leadership and members of the SNP why the State Audit Institution gave a conditional opinion on the operations of the party. Particularly to those who did not want to be at DF’s protest with him and who did not vote for the SNP financial report”, DPS emphasised.
