You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer
Budget building
The Government should submit the budget to Parliament today, and yesterday a test balloon was released through the pro-government media with a rather critical attitude about the unpopular measures of additional taxation of some products and pensions. The DF’s reaction immediately followed, so Messrs. Milan Knežević and Nebojša Medojević reacted by saying that such a budget could not have the support of their caucuses in Parliament. The reaction of the American Chamber of Commerce did not concern the content of the budget itself, but the process of its adoption, which, according to it, wasn’t transparent enough. Predictability and transparency of tax policy are of critical importance for the economy and investors due to business planning and activities.
Minister Milojko Spajić doesn’t care much for criticism while fixing on statistics and boasting of reducing the deficit to 3%. Public finance planning and the success of fiscal policy are much more demanding than bare statistics and mere pursuit of numbers. But there is time for the young minister to practice on Montenegrin citizens.
Closer relations with Russia
Earlier, we learnt that the Prime Minister will be a guest at the Victory Day celebration in Moscow on 9 May. Yesterday, he also talked to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov. It was pointed out that this year marks 310 years of establishing political contacts and 15 years of establishing diplomatic relations after the restoration of Montenegrin independence.
At the same time, the new Government in Tivat announced the establishment of relations with the Russian city of Omsk, and informed the public about an online meeting between the 2 mayors.
Army situation
Minister Olivera Injac is one of the biggest disappointments in the new Government. Her fierce desire to prove herself to political bosses significantly threw her expert knowledge into the background. Her political statements, position on Sinjajevina, political confrontations, scandals with the military-intelligence sector, disqualified her as an expert. Yesterday, in an interview for Dan, she continued with that manner. The President’s cabinet denied her claims of guilt for not scheduling the Council session. At the same time, Pobjeda reports about the complete mischief within the army, which proves the behavior of our soldiers during international exercises, due to which our Government received a protest note from an allied country.
Anarchy in Budva
Yesterday, the residents of Pržno, Miločer and Sveti Stefan broke the fence around the Queen’s Beach. The locals gathered in front of the construction site of the Queen’s Beach, demanding that, as they say, the concreting of this coastal place be stopped. They were joined by the mayor of Budva Marko Carević and the speaker of Budva parliament Krsto Radović.
Crnogorska leader Anđela Ivanović commented on the news that locals broke the fence around the Queen’s Beach by referring to the fact that the mayor of Budva is mentioned in MANS reports as an usurper of state property: “Please, when you go to Krimovica to defend the occupied state land, call me… Whoever wants to join me, they can contact me to get organized”. And really, imagine a group of people gathering and breaking down the fences around Mr Carević‘s property in Krimovica, which he illegally built on state property.
Borders open as virus rages
While we are all practically in lockdown, our country can still be freely entered from the countries of the region. These illogical measures are made to please Serbia most. As the economy suffers, the number of the infected is not declining. We lost 10 more people yesterday. We have also learnt that the number of tests that Minister Borovinić Bojović tried to present as the reduction in the number of the infected has decreased, but obviously that doesn’t work, either.
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow at the same place at the same time.
