Formation of government in Montenegro: A pro-Russian and 'Svetosavska' government instead of a pro-European one!

By Nevena Kovačević

With only about twenty days left until the legal deadline of 90 days for the designated prime minister Milojko Spajić to propose the composition of the 44th Montenegrin Government.

After a sudden turn of events this week and the reopening of negotiations with representatives of the former Democratic Front, i.e., the coalition For the Future of Montenegro, it is increasingly certain that Montenegro, instead of the announced pro-European and pro-Western government, will get a pro-Russian and pro-Serbian executive branch.

Namely, after several meetings, designated prime minister Spajić stated that they have a larger majority than expected and that they are currently working on the next steps, i.e., creating a political agreement.

According to Pobjeda's findings, the mentioned agreement states that the Europe Now movement could receive ten portfolios, Aleksa Bečić's Democrats four, including the security sector, while the Socialist People's Party would retain the portfolios of agriculture and sports and youth, which they currently manage.

Although the agreement states that the Albanian Forum and the Albanian Alliance should receive the portfolios of public administration and human and minority rights, the participation of minority party representatives in the new executive government remains uncertain.

The Bosniak Party has definitively stated that they will not participate in a government that is supported by ZBCG as a minority, and the leader of the Croatian Civic Initiative, Adrijan Vuksanović, who did not respond to Spajić's invitation, has the same position.

The leader of the Albanian Forum, Nik Đeljošaj, stated that he will make a decision on participation in the government by Monday, and that they can only be part of an executive government that respects EU sanctions against Russia, supports Ukraine, protects minority rights, and respects the sovereignty of neighboring countries.

Since none of the above applies to ZBCG, it is quite possible to expect that there will be no representatives of minority peoples in Spajić's government. The only one among the 'August 30th liberators' who was left without the much-desired piece of the pie is the caretaker prime minister Dritan Abazović, given that negotiations with the Civic Movement URA were announced and then canceled the next day.

Milatović's pressure, Spajić's calculations, and Bečić's sacrifice

Although Spajić claimed until a few days ago that he would not negotiate again with the representatives of the For the Future of Montenegro coalition, from several not-so-easy options, he chose the worst for Montenegro – concessions to the former Democratic Front and acceptance of most of their demands.

After Bečić's Democrats, whose leader was supposed to be proposed as the Speaker of Parliament, expressed the stance that they would not support the government if the deciding vote came from Mehmet Zenka (DUA), because his party was part of the coalition gathered around the Democratic Party of Socialists, Spajić, instead of minority support from the Democratic Party of Socialists, decided to seek that kind of support from ZBCG and try to renew negotiations with them, probably believing that with such a concept, he could count on at least a minimal calming of tensions within the Europe Now movement, which is on the verge of a split.

Thus, the designated prime minister denied his earlier claims that negotiations with the former Front were concluded and that this alliance would not be part of the government.

In exchange for minority support, Spajić offered the constituents of ZBCG the position of Speaker of Parliament, which they gladly accepted.

Thus, most likely, instead of Aleksa Bečić, who, in the pathetic jargon of the 'August 30th liberators', sacrificed himself for the sake of reaching an agreement, the position of the Speaker of the Montenegrin Assembly will go to the Chetnik duke Andrija Mandić, the leader of the New Serbian Democracy.

However, according to media reports, the former DF has set a series of ultimatum demands for Spajić, which he will have to fulfill, as they could overthrow his government if this does not happen, as was the case with Dritan Abazović's minority government, which was formed with the minority support of the Democratic Party of Socialists.

Judging by the demands heard in previous days, Spajić's calculations could cost him dearly, as ZBCG allegedly seeks to prevent salary and pension increases, so that the final credit for improving the standard of living would not go to PES.

This would mean that Spajić would not be able to implement the controversial program Europe Now Two in the next year, which was the basis of the movement's entire election campaign. Additionally, one of the key demands is the reconstruction of the government one year after its formation, which would formally make the For the Future of Montenegro coalition part of the executive branch and, after the most important legislative function, take over some significant government portfolios, namely, as stated in the agreement, the portfolios of transport, education, tourism, spatial planning, and urbanism.

This concept is most similar to what President Jakov Milatović has advocated for months, who, from the beginning of the negotiations through media statements, influencing some deputies of the movement, and meetings with Spajić, has been constantly pressuring him, demanding that the For the Future of Montenegro coalition be one of the constituents of the new government.

A slap in the face to the West and the European Union

The European Union Delegation in Montenegro issued a statement last night, reiterating its previously stated position – that they expect the formation of a pro-European government whose policies will be fully aligned with the EU's foreign and security policy.

US Ambassador Judy Rising Reinke expressed concern about the possibility of the former Democratic Front entering the government, an alliance that the US has claimed not to be a partner with since the formation of the 'apostolic' government led by Zdravko Krivokapić.

However, everything indicates that neither the designated prime minister nor the rest of Montenegro's centrists are interested in the messages from their European and Western partners. All the meetings, messages, and promises were apparently just a maneuver, a way to deceive the international community, to gain time and achieve the final goal – forming a majority composed of entities with identical ideological orientations.

Spajić's move has essentially exposed the true nature of the movement and revealed the insufficiently clear ideological structure of its members.

Thus, only the first word in the name PES (Europe Now Movement) remains from Europe, while cooperation with those who burned NATO flags represents a direct slap in the face to the alliance in which Montenegro was recognized as a reliable and credible member until 2020.

Chetniks as part of the government and the dismantling of Montenegro

The election of Andrija Mandić as the Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament would set a dangerous precedent. In a country that is a NATO member and whose vast majority of citizens support membership in the European Union, the head of the highest legislative body would be an admirer of Vladimir Putin, a supporter of the aggression against Ukraine, an anti-NATO servant of the radical nationalist policy pursued by Aleksandar Vučić, and a fighter against Montenegro's independence.

In addition to all of the above, Andrija Mandić was finally convicted for attempted terrorism on the day of the 2016 parliamentary elections, and the retrial in this case is still ongoing.

Perhaps most dangerously – the Speaker of Parliament, according to constitutional powers, is a member of the Security and Defense Council. Therefore – besides Mandić's presidency opening the door for new unconstitutional moves by the actors in power, pointless and boundless games, and the blocking of already stalled reform processes, he would, as a member of the Security and Defense Council, have access to classified information, including that coming from the NATO alliance.

Translated into practice, sensitive data belonging to the security sector would be handed over to the Russian spy network. The consequences of Mandić's presidency of parliament could be catastrophic. Let's recall, this is not the first time a Democratic Front official has presided over the Assembly. After the dismissal of Aleksa Bečić from the position of head of parliament, in March 2022, that function was briefly held by former DF official Strahinja Bulajić.

His brief presidency of parliament was marked by numerous violations of the rules of procedure, blocking the work of the Security and Defense Council, preventing the adoption of a resolution condemning the aggression against Ukraine, passing laws, and forming a minority government.

Even without the Democratic Front in the first version of the government, the situation is clear and the mosaic is easy to assemble – Montenegro will get a pro-Serbian, pro-Russian, and anti-Western government.

Because if PES and the Democrats had even a shred of European and Western values within them, arrangements and concessions at the expense of the destroyers of the state of Montenegro and the haters of all things Montenegrin, the lovers of war criminals and deniers of genocide, would not even cross their minds.

However, disastrous compromises are apparently more important than the principled stance, mentioned so many times but never demonstrated. With the entry of ZBCG into a reconstructed government, all conditions would be created to complete the process that was initiated by Abazović, continued by Milatović and Spajić, and the final blow would be in the hands of Andrija Mandić, Milan Knežević, and the rest of the Putin-Vučić team.

The leaders of Europe Now know all this, and they are trying to convince us once again to believe in the change of never-hidden ethno-nationalist worldviews and the suddenly awakened European orientation of the Front members, but they, who swore by European and Western values, do not care about the world, but exclusively about their own future.

They lack eloquence, knowledge, and experience, but they have an excess of unfulfilled ambitions and a hunger for positions. The centrists agree to the completion of the process of dismantling the Montenegrin state and its civic being, to the destruction of multi-ethnic harmony, to a single way of thinking, national and religious uniformity.

They agree at the local level, so why not at the state level. They will also agree to the final rendering meaningless of already meaningless institutions and will not lift a finger to stop it.

They would even agree to Montenegro, thus dysfunctional, becoming the third Serbian state in the Balkans, a small colony under the administration of official Belgrade. They would give the Front a free hand, with the support of Vučić and the Serbian Orthodox Church, to create a state of the people through ethnic engineering, a state that is formally sovereign but formally enslaved. And then – nothing would remain of Montenegro.

Without the strength to fight against aggressive nationalism with civic consciousness, without a strong opposition truly dedicated to preserving the national interest, instead of their own return to power, the scenario of the identity extermination of the Montenegrin being can hardly be avoided.

Then, lost in the labyrinth of total meaninglessness, we will be able to say only one thing – goodbye, Europe.