You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer
The budget is not developmental and again envisages large borrowing, with a very small share earmarked for capital expenditures, while most of it falls on the remediation of running costs. It was introduced to us by the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance, and they also invited Deputy PM Abazović, who obviously had to do some things for that part, which we will talk about later. During the conference, they promised us to join the EU in 2 years. I don’t want to comment on the Government’s work program because it is a copy of the negotiation process for EU membership from many general points without concrete measures and activities.
The opposition, but also the Government, criticized the budget. Mr Nebojša Medojević ironically referred to Minister Spajić‘s remark that this was the best budget in history, saying that it was “stealing from the poor to give to the rich”. MP Miloš Nikolić said that Minister Spajić allegedly leaked information about the budget to Vijesti before the others, and then denied it in the part regarding the taxation of pensions. Vijesti reacted and published a document that was given to it for inspection, which was obviously changed after they used Vijesti for a test balloon. Since the budget will be applied retroactively, MP Damir Šehović believes that the draft budget is unconstitutional. The DPS also referred to the betrayed promise to mothers of 3 or more children, which the then opposition and the current Government used for the campaign and now left stranded, as MP Ivan Mitrović said.
MANS targeted by Minister Bojanić
Minister Mladen Bojanić, who is considered the closest to URA, is paradoxically strongly asserts that drilling the Montenegrin offshore is a good job. Responding to the criticism of MANS, which expressed suspicion that this is a job that protects the private interests of some individuals or groups, the Minister said that he provided all the documentation and that the doors of his ministry were open to MANS, as well as that he would buy offer them coffee and breakfast. In a very ugly way, the Minister assessed that the criticism of MANS was not the result of sincere doubt and constructive criticism, but “the beginning of a political campaign and personal frustration of individuals”. Whether this is a real problem in communication or faking conflict so that MANS, which is now part of the system, would not lose the credibility of critics of the Government, remains to be seen. I don’t think the latter is the case because this kind of the Minister’s behavior gives two possible epilogues – either he will lose credibility, or he will succeed in marking MANS as an empty critic who criticizes only for the sake of criticism, without a real foundation. If that was the Minister’s intention, and that is legitimate, he could only do it without mentioning “personal frustrations” and thus continue with the bad practice of nervously reacting to criticism.
Appointing Vukšić
Let’s go back to why the Prime Minister let the Deputy PM attend the presentation of the budget. Although Mr Dritan Abazović criticized the acting ANB head Dejan Vukšić, just over a week ago, he now said that he would support his appointment to do the job for a full term because he “did it well”. Mr Milan Knežević referred to the data leak and gave a hint that criminal proceedings could be expected due to the paradoxical situation in which the members of the Security Committee were unwittingly acquainted with secret data that they were not allowed to read, as he said. Mr Knežević, who has close relations with Russia, also used Mr Vukšić‘s visit to Brussels as proof that he has excellent relations with partner services and their trust, regardless of information leaks. MP Raško Konjević, who was the first to inform the public about the leak of information, reiterated that Mr Vukšić should resign.
Denying genocide
Mr Abazović had to do another thing to deserve to sit together with the Prime Minister and Minister Spajić while presenting the budget, and it is much worse than the first one. He had to say that Minister of Justice Vladimir Leposavić did not deny the genocide, although the majority of Montenegro and half of the world made it clear that he did it. Having said that this was a matter of taking out of context and abusing the crime, he can also say this to Senator Ben Cardin, the chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, the senator who is another in a series of world leaders who criticized Mr Leposavić‘s statement and said that he was “upset because of the statements that call into question the conclusion of the international courts on the events in Srebrenica”. Writer and columnist Andrej Nikolaidis believes that no one should have been surprised by the statement of the Minister of Justice Vladimir Leposavić about Srebrenica, as well as by the fact that the Government practically stood behind him with his statement.
Encouraging EU messages
EU member states formally confirmed the expansion of the methodology in the negotiation process, after Oliver Varhelyi presented to the EU ambassadors on 17 March the so-called non-paper with proposals on how to apply the new methodology to countries that have already started the accession process, i.e. Serbia and Montenegro. EC spokeswoman Ana Pisonero stressed the EU’s readiness to assist Montenegro after Mr Dritan Abazović sought help to get rid of China’s debt.
That’s it for today. Enjoy the rest of the day.
