What did Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandic actually want to convey by mentioning, as he called him, the Knightly King Aleksandar Karadjordjevic just yesterday in Cetinje? One would say, a dose of provocation because he announced it in Cetinje, but also “showing” the direction of action from the position of the first man of the Parliament.
Political analyst Nikoleta Djukanovic, says for CdM that this is just one more in a series of activities by Mandic in order to achieve his party’s task of satisfying the interests of the authorities in Belgrade, fomenting divisions and further radicalizing Montenegrin society.
“At the same time, this procedure is a kind of provocation, aimed at belittling the Montenegrin state”, she has stressed.
Another item stirred passions on the Montenegrin political scene yesterday.
“It has fallen to us to make Montenegro a truly free country, and one of the important directions of action should be the preparation and passing of a new law that will regulate the functioning of various foreign agencies that, under the guise of NGOs, try to influence the internal and foreign policy of our country”, announced Mandic’s coalition For the Future of Montenegro.
Sharp reactions followed from the opposition parties. Also, the non-governmental sector responded. Even the governing parties said they would not support this solution.
Djukanovic says that the initiative to adopt the Law on Foreign Agents is a key step to move from a consolidated democracy to an open autocracy.
“The environment in which our civil society is developing is very unfavourable, the current government does not understand that a strong civil society is necessary for democratic development, and criticism is hardly tolerated. Thus, this attempt is in fact intended to prevent critics from doing their work, to stifle free speech, and, like autocratic regimes, to condemn and ban anyone who is against the current authorities”, Djukanovic has concluded.
