Democratic People’s Party (DNP) leader and Democratic Front MP, Milan Knezevic, caused an incident in the Parliament yesterday when he verbally attacked deputy speaker of Parliament Branimir Gvozdenovic. Knezevic had previously initiated several incidents in Parliament, so it seems that he loses control over his actions as soon as he enters the Parliament building.
After the deputy Parliament speaker Branimir Gvozdenovic refused to allow him to speak yesterday, Knezevic attacked him saying: “Shame on you. Who are you to deny my right to talk!” The verbal duel was continued even during a break that was immediately announced to calm the situation. Even security guards were invited to the Parliament hall.
Liberal Party (LP) leader Andrija Popovic believes that DF is the most responsible for the “ultimate street talk” that came to Parliament and that such a situation has lasted since the 2015 protests. He claims that Knezevic is under the pressure of criminal charges against him and court proceedings and recommends withdrawing form MP duty for a while.
Knezevic’s behaviour was condemned by the DPS official Nikola Gegaj.
He told the CdM that not only yesterday, but generally, DF MPs behave inadequately in Parliament.
“The desire to provoke incidents is obvious. There is no sincere desire for dialogue. Apparently, DF MPs think that they are above the laws and rules of the Parliament of Montenegro, and that they could offend anyone to reach a goal in that way,” Gegaj is clear.
Program coordinator in the Civic Alliance Sanja Rasovic believes that there has been a spiral of misconduct in Parliament for several years and that both ruling coalition and opposition equally contribute to the situation.
“I do not see anyone honestly wanting to ease the tension and try to bring about some consensus on the most important things. Stricter fines introduced through unilateral amendments to the rules of procedure just worsened the things. Unfortunately, too loud talks and strong rhetoric are just a cover for ignorance and unwillingness to seriously engage in politics,” she concludes.
