By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
“I’m wondering why it is possible to dig coal in Pljevlja and sell it, and it is not possible to cut wood and sell it”, said Joko, the Montenegrin deputy prime minister.
This, of course, is not and cannot be high politics – even in countries like Montenegro, where the political elite lives on the remains of an already consolidated democracy. This is a cartoon sketch. This is: “P-E-T-R-O-L. That’s a funny way to spell water”. This is: “And how do you spell it correctly, Iraq or Iran?”. This is: “And why do they call milk Veronika (*alluding to varenika – boiled milk) in Montenegro?”.
I don’t know Joko, honestly. Maybe because digging coal consumes and cutting wood destroys a resource? Maybe because coal is a remnant of something that lived millions of years ago, and wood lives, how to put it, now? Maybe because there is something called an ecosystem, and wood is very important for its stability? Maybe because wood is important to have oxygen, to have something to breathe? Because, as is well known, you can’t breathe without oxygen.
But… Aren’t you at least a little scared? Because if Joko is the party leader, do you dare to think who SNP will employ “at management and operational positions”?
Of course, I am not suggesting Joko’s intellectual insufficiency, I am not questioning his, hm, competence to lead the government – especially this government. Who in their right mind would say that a man who publicly wonders why he can’t cut down a tree, if he can already dig coal, is stupid?
But I argue that this government seriously reckons that those they address are stupid. And that is its Achilles heel. That arrogance built in the air will cost it its survival. Because Montenegro, despite numerous proofs to the contrary, despite the government’s firm belief that this is not the case, is inhabited by free citizens, not cattle.
The Prime Minister, however, and the Minister of Tourism, on the other hand, say that they have not heard a valid argument against entering the Open Balkans.
Nor have we heard a valid argument for entering it. And that’s all that matters. Because if you enter into an alliance, it is up to you to explain why you are doing it. And the government didn’t do just that. When you go to the doctor, you explain to him the reason why you came, not the reason you didn’t come yesterday. When you apply for a visa for England, they ask you what is the reason for your visit, not what are the reasons against traveling. Serious states… No, states led by people who are basically sober or at least basically free, do something because they have reasons and interests for it, and not because no one has told them why not to do it.
You see, if Dritan decided to jump off the Skocidjevojka (*Maiden’s Leap cape), Momo Koprivica might not tell him the reason not to do so. But that doesn’t mean it should be done. Do you get the point?
Not only is there no valid reason for “in favour of it”. The government is determined to push this country into the Balkan great-power mud for decades in a way that is completely non-transparent and undemocratic, without public debate. By simply getting larger number of votes at the cabinet meeting. To which, exactly, DPS and SDP agreed. Those who now performatively oppose what they accepted to be voted on, the moment when some supported and others entered the government in which the majority is represented by representatives of Serbia’s interests, while in the Government of Montenegro, Montenegro itself is a minority.
Everything about this government is false. This is not a minority government, but a majority other government of Serbia. This government is a “Chanel” €5 worth of women’s purse bought at Tuska market. All those who joined the government or supported it lie about the reasons why they did so, thus humiliating the public and further undermining the blissfully rested Montenegrin democracy. Only one thing about this government is transparent: it is transparent that it is fake, that it is false.
Anyway, dear citizens: you will pay for it like an original Chanel.
