You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer
What keeps this Government together is a common budget trough, and in one part the implementation of the strategic goals of returning Montenegro under the cloak of the Greater Serbia project. But while one part of the Government aggressively and openly expresses these intentions, the other part, which the pro-government media call a “moderate part of the Montenegrin political spectrum”, uses the frog cooking tactics. The Serbian Orthodox Church is an ancient institution and has a long institutional memory, and therefore has patience. It took advantage of the malignant narcissism of the URA leader and while feeding his ego by allegedly giving him a police baton, they placed people loyal to the church in key positions in education, culture and at the university. However, one of the most important levers in the implementation of its plan will be the liberalization of the process of obtaining Montenegrin citizenship, announced by the Prime Minister. Radio Free Europe has dealt with this issue and in general, the conclusion is that the existing legal solution and its impartial application provides enough space for apatrids living in Montenegro to be taken care of. Every change in the law has a single goal – to change the demographic and political picture of Montenegro.
Heating up in Nikšić
A little less than three weeks is left until the showdown in Nikšić. The themes of the campaign are not parks and recreation and other city related topics, they are not local, but they are ethnic and religious. We have absolved that. Mr Vladimir Pavićević, a Montenegrin and Serbian political scientist and politician, has spoken for Dnevne Novine about the possibility that these elections and those in Herceg Novi will be an introduction to calling parliamentary elections. I disagree with my fellow Budvanin because the trough is a very good cohesive element as long as it’s full. After DF received rather calmly the slap of Mr Dritan Abazović when it comes to the election of the police director, we have all realized that this is a dog that barks but doesn’t bite. Not only elections, but also the Government reshuffles are not at stake, unless DF manages to prove its strength and supremacy over its coalition partners in Nikšić. Then they may be encouraged. Mr Pavićević points out what we also stated, and that is that the Prime Minister’s authority and political power have faded, and that this Government no longer has support in the electorate, in addition to the fact that it hasn’t had it in Parliament since the beginning. We remind you that the Government is mostly made up of people close to the church and a smaller part of URA, and that Democrats and DF are not even allowed to peek into it. At the beginning, there was a chance that Mr Željko Ivanović‘s idea of a Christian Democratic Party led by the Prime Minister would come true, but that would be nothing but crying over the spilt milk now, and the elections in Nikšić will prove it.
One of the reasons for the Prime Minister to lose his authority is the break with the businessman Miodrag Daka Davidović, who, unlike the Prime Minister, had the courage to go to the local elections. I think he takes a lot of risks, but he who dares wins. Mr Davidović has reminded the public that it was he himself who brought Mr Krivokapić into politics.
But let’s see what is technically happening in Nikšić. URA has been using an unprincipled institutional advantage because its official from that city, Mr Rade Milošević, leads the operational police team that deals with the elections in Nikšić, and activist Aleksandar Saša Zeković has warned about that.
In Budva, Mr Bato Carević hosted DF’s candidate for the mayor, the young Serbian nationalist leader Marko Kovačević, who undoubtedly has the greatest popularity among the local leaders of the new authorities in Nikšić. Mr Carević respected the measures, so he didn’t leave Budva, but Budva’s speaker of parliament, Mr Krsto Radović, left Budva in violation of the measures, and allegedly experienced discomfort. He didn’t report the inconvenience to the police, but there was a press conference at which the public was informed about it. Mr Momo Koprivica, the Democrats’ candidate for the mayor of Nikšić, accused Mr Branislav Brano Mićunović of being behind the incident.
Digital healthcare
The pandemic is not subsiding, but at least vaccination has begun, to some extent. We are approaching the number of 1000 deaths in Montenegro. Minister Jelena Borovinić Bojović received the Russian vaccine from the Serbian donation, and Mr Abazović thanked China for the donation of 30,000 vaccines.
Candidate for the mayor of Nikšić and the former minister of science, Ms Sanja Damjanović, called out the Minister and said that if she was in her place she couldn’t look citizens in the eye. She was answered by the general manager of the “Digital Health” Directorate (what a name for the sinecure!), DNP official Aleksandar Sekulić. Job description of the general manager of the Digital Health (sic!) Directorate – writing political statements, in addition to the standard job of preserving the digital health of citizens probably.
While we save ourselves from the virus and recover digitally, Ms Ljiljana Brankova Radulović, has still been “cleaning” the Clinical Center from “disloyal and unreliable” heads of units. We remind you that both she and the Minister, although “politically unsuitable”, were KCCG heads of units during the DPS rule. They are now cleverly cleaning up all the unsuitable ones, because they don’t want to make the same mistake that the DPS made.
Diplomatic embarrassment
The situation in the Vatican is becoming overly uncomfortable.
The public quarrel between the Ministry and the ambassador tires us all, and makes us cringe in front of the world. After receiving the chargé d’affaires and probably the successor to the post of ambassador, which was toasted with champagne, Ambassador Miodrag Vlahović wrote on Twitter and said that the future ambassador Gojko Čelebić had threatened the technical staff of the embassy. The Ministry also threatened to seek the assistance of the police authorities in the Vatican to remove Vlahović fron the embassy, and Mr Vlahović said that he considers himself the ambassador until he sees the official recall signed by the President.
So much for today. Have a nice rest of the day.
