Knežević: DNP withdraws support from the Government of Montenegro and Podgorica authorities

(Patria) - Leader of the Democratic People's Party, Milan Knežević, announced at a press conference held after the party's presidency session that DNP is withdrawing support from local and state authorities. This, as he announced, entails leaving the government of Milojko Spajić and abandoning the authorities in Podgorica.

"The DNP councilor club withdraws support from the Mayor of Podgorica, Saša Mujović. We will act as the opposition in both the Parliament of Montenegro and the Assembly of the Capital City," emphasized the DNP leader.

He added that, in accordance with yesterday's decision, Deputy Prime Minister Milun Zogović and Minister of Transport Maja Vukićević will officially submit their resignations to the Parliament today, which were previously accepted by the presidency.

"We made the conclusions unanimously," stated Knežević.

As he said, he will soon discuss further cooperation within the coalition For the Future of Montenegro (formerly Democratic Front) with the Speaker of Parliament and leader of the New Serbian Democracy, Andrija Mandić.

"I am tasked with discussing further cooperation with Andrija Mandić. Regardless of the decision that the party bodies will ultimately make, our relationship will remain friendly," he said, explaining that he received such a task from the party's presidency.

He stated that he had not spoken with Mandić yesterday or today, nor had they discussed the stance of the New Serbian Democracy, i.e., whether they would follow the footsteps of their traditional coalition partners.

"It is a bit unusual for part of the coalition to be in power and part in opposition, but considering everything we have been through, no one can jeopardize our friendship. Political concepts change. We lead two different parties, and everyone has the right to their choice," said Knežević.

He emphasized that the positions at lower levels were distributed based on meritocracy and professionalism.

"Let Milojko Spajić see what he will do with them. As far as we are concerned, the Prime Minister can dismiss all those people on Monday. They are ready to accept that act of institutional action towards them," Knežević told the Montenegrin Prime Minister.

He stressed that DNP officials have not betrayed any principles.

"The DNP parliamentary group will submit amendments to the Law on Citizenship to the parliamentary procedure," announced Knežević, thereby formalizing the initiative to introduce dual citizenship, which was one of the demands not considered at the Government session yesterday.

The reason for this was Prime Minister Spajić's stance that the Parliament is the place for discussing initiatives related to identity issues.

In addition to introducing dual citizenship, the DNP's demands concerned the constitutional regulation of Serbian as an official language, and amendments to the Law on State Symbols, so that the tricolor would be regulated as the national flag.

Regarding the continuation of the dialogue on the issue of building a collector in Botun, both Spajić and Mujović have repeatedly stated that changing the location is not possible, and the Prime Minister said yesterday that there is room for discussion, exclusively in the context of additional guarantees that the Government could provide to the locals.

Before the DNP conference, a group of supporters gathered in front of the party premises to show their support for Knežević and the DNP leadership regarding the decision to leave the Government.