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Ten to Eight – Fall of Govt

You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous weekend.

By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer

Fall of the government

For the first time, calling elections is mentioned as an option for resolving the political crisis in Montenegro. The lack of budget, the character of this Government as anti-European and the Government controlled by Belgrade and Moscow, makes it increasingly cramped for some people there. In this Government, some people have something to lose, in fact, there may be only one person left who has not compromised to the end. Without beating around the bush, it is high time that people like Minister Tamara Srzentić stop being an ornament in this Government. It’s time to leave the sinking ship. It is a big stain in your career to be a minister of such a government because there is no longer any rational reason to stay there. Resignation would be an act that could save her, and there is less and less time for an honorable exit from the situation.

It has finally become clear that the differences are insurmountable and that, although people in the elections voted for the removal of the DPS, they did not vote for such a government. The Fundamental Agreement is a place where everything can be broken, if MP Božena Jelušić is to be believed, who said this in Darko Šuković’s Different Radio Connection radio talk-show. If, as she announced, the Fundamental Agreement is not supported, there will be no budget. That is what the Democratic Front (DF) said. They said the prime minister did not have their confidence, that the Government should be reshuffled or that the election of a new Government within the existing majority should be held, or that there should be organised elections after all.

The Prime Minister ignored them at the parliamentary security committee and showed them that he, too, no longer has the patience for DF’s infantile games.

The Democrats leader Aleksa Bečić said that his party supported PM Krivokapić and that the DF could freely initiate the procedure of checking the confidence of this Government. He also mentioned the elections. URA also emphasized that there was no agreement beyond the interests of the state.

Welcoming Joanikije

The new Metropolitan arrived in Podgorica yesterday, and the reception was far less numerous than the previous gatherings in front of the temple. The plateau was half empty. A pale shadow of previous gatherings. The Prime Minister publicly repented for his behavior in Belgrade last week, and asked the Metropolitan for forgiveness in front of everyone. After the solemn service in the temple, in which the DF took the front rows, and people like the nationalist Minister Stijović were in the back rows, the evening began where the DF members happily “made an ambush” for Aleksa Bečić singing Onamo Namo. While Mr Bečić was visibly uncomfortable, the Prime Minister moved slowly to the verses exorcising evil “from the hearth of the beloved” and calling for the liberation of Kosovo. The nationalist hit Veseli se Srpski Rode by the muse of the procession movement Danica Crnogorčević was sung, which also calls for the spread of the Serbian flag from the territory of independent Kosovo to Montenegro. By the way, the indoctrination of the youngest population with Crnogorčević‘s hideous songs is something that worries me the most. We saw what was going on at the junior prom celebrations, and now we see the same song being sung in playrooms where preschoolers are playing. With Minister Vesna Bratić at the head of the Ministry of Education, imagine what else awaits us.

CANU’s 50th anniversary

It was interesting to see the President of Montenegro, the Prime Minister and the Parliament Speaker yesterday at the head of the table with the academics of CANU. It was especially interesting to see the cordial greetings among them, as well as the less cordial but polite greeting of Minister Bratić with President Đukanović. CANU is celebrating 50 years of its existence and it has been the target of criticism from the opposition public in Montenegro, because it is silent at a time when the fundamental values ​​of this society are threatened. Having in mind the shameful role of this institution back in the 1990s, its silence seems even more sinister.

Showing teeth to Serbia

In the light of the serious crisis in which the Government has found itself, and most thanks to all the activities of the political alliance that is under the direct influence of Belgrade, it was interesting to see yesterday’s protest reaction of the Foreign Ministry: Serbia’s increasingly frequent negative rhetoric is not in the spirit of neighbourly relations, the Ministry said yesterday. The Ministry consider it inadmissible that anyone, even Serbia, has a paternalistic attitude towards the state of Montenegro, its PM Zdravko Krivokapić and the Government. Especially since in the past 6 months, as it says, neither the Government nor the PM have made a single move that would justify such an approach and rhetoric that is, to say the least, undiplomatic.

Milatović in Russia

Yesterday, Minister of Economic Development Jakov Milatović traveled to visit Russia, where he will participate in the International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in St. Petersburg. The Ministry has announced that along with the famous Forum in Davos, the International Economic Forum in Russia is one of the largest and most important gatherings of the world’s leading economists, politicians, bankers, businessmen and leaders of the largest multinational companies.

I can’t believe that Minister Milatović put SPIEF on a par with Davos. I can’t believe that this young man has shown so much political tactlessness that at the moment of the crisis regarding Belarus, at the moment when political prisoners are piling up in the prisons of Russia and Belarus, he is going to Vladimir Putin. Sebastian Kurz will be the only guest from Europe, the one who is currently fighting accusations of corruption in his own country.

Despite all that, the Minister goes there as a tourist and is not on the official agenda of the programme.

In Russia, a couple of days ago, a fuss arose over the forum because it was revealed that people from President Putin‘s administration were pressuring and racketeering Russian businessmen to participate in financing the event.

That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.

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