Deputy President of the Democratic Party of Socialists Mr Duško Marković, says for the Pobjeda daily that there are well-founded fears that the new Government’s goal is not the change of the system for the better, but that everything is done to reach goals that are contrary to Montenegro’s interests, its sovereignty, and interests of its citizens.
Commenting on the events in the Parliament in the night between 28th and 29th December, Mr Marković said that everyone could see that in Montenegro there are no such things as legal state and legality anymore. The so-called new government has shown to be capable of anything just to put in practice the only idea that gathered them: the dissolution of the Montenegrin state and its drowning in the “Serbian world”. Should someone had any illusions after 30th August that pro-European processes are happening in Montenegro, now it’s high time for them to stop turning their heads from the brutal legal violence and lawlessness introduced in Montenegro.
Asked about whether the amendments to the Law allowed for the abduction of the most important Montenegrin cultural heritage and state’s property, Marković reminded of Dobrica Ćosić’s words: „Lie is the Serbian national interest“. The amendments to the law that are now adopted are far different from what Marković’s government proposed to them as a compromise this summer, otherwise, they would have accepted it. The amendments to the law are aimed at different goals. The Law that DPS and its coalition partners passed one year ago was a modern law, that received a positive opinion from the Venice Commission because its aim was to preserve Montenegrin cultural heritage that belongs to no one else but Montenegro. This law, he says, will last no longer than this Government.
Asked to comment on the recent emission of state bonds and the borrowing of €750 million and the decision to do temporary financing rather than budge rebalancing, Mr Marković said that no one could have expected such inopportune, hasty, and illegal decisions, which are contrary to the highest national interests of Montenegro. To push one state and its citizens to a €750 million debt is equal to economic and state exhibitionism, and the new government did that before proving the expediency of such an economic move. These things were done „in secrecy and in an organized manner, as Mr Krivokapić said.
The Pobjeda asked if the reshaping of the ministries and state administration the way to build a new system, different to that of DPS’s, or it is the demolition of the state and “introducing” Montenegro into the “Serbian world”. Mr Marković commented that it is a tectonic disturbance of a traditionally stable public administration system. The most drastic example that no one can understand is merging four ministries of distinctly different powers and policies into one.
Amendments to the Law on Freedom of Religion, in violation of all procedures; proposing amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which takes us a half-century backward; urgent preparation of the Law on Internal Affairs in order to change the management of the police and eliminate its operational independence – inevitably leads to the weakening of the state and endangering the achieved level of its democratic construction. Mr Marković fears that everything is done to reach goals that are contrary to Montenegro’s interests, its sovereignty, and the interests of its citizens. This was even noticed by Brussels and we will see how will this affect Montenegro’s reputation among NATO partners. He believes that the criticism Mr Krivokapić’s government receives daily will inevitably lead to a vote of no confidence, that they will never again have a chance to win in an election and that the citizens of Montenegro will never again allow being deceived this way.
Considering all the criticism and the relations within the very coalition, it turns logical that such a state cannot last long. But the consequences for Montenegro and its citizens will be long-lasting.
Mr Marković’s response to Pobjeda’s question about the reasons for DPS’s defeat in the election was that reasons are numerous: from deviations within the very government after 30 years of managing state affairs, which were certainly not so serious as it was claimed by political opponents, some media and NGO’s; through the drastic participation of the Serbian Orthodox Church in political processes and the election game, which influenced the determination of a number of citizens on 30th August, all strongly supported by direct assistance from neighboring Serbia, as well as the silence of the Brussels and Washington administrations under pressure from Montenegro; all the way to the severe health and economic consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic left on our citizens.
Asked to say what are the reforms announced to be discussed at the DPS congress, Mr Marković said that some changes in personnel are necessary, as DPS needs to be recognized by persons that are competent, hard-working, and untainted.
As for the question of whether shutting down of Montenegro Airlines was contrary to the state interests, Mr Marković said that the old government recognized the survival of MA as a strategic economic and national interest of Montenegro. Otherwise, we would have shut it long ago.
We were working hard to save the airline, based on multiple analyses. But now we see that the aviation knowledge of ministers is limited to the fastening of seat belts and that it does not stop them from being ambitious in making such serious decisions. We will soon see are there some other interests behind them and what do they amount to in monetary terms.
