"It is not a turn towards the SPC, but rather respect for believers! In this way, we have proven once again that for us it is never, nor can be, a problem that someone in Montenegro declares themselves as a Serb and/or a SPC believer! On the contrary, we see it as part of the identity mosaic that makes our country so unique," said Ivan Vuković, vice-president of the DPS, concluding that the party will not overthrow Abazović's government. Just as Jovanović did not recently overthrow the government in Budva. With the same justification that the million-dollar grant to Joaniki, as well as Abazović's signature to Porfirio, are not in the interest of the state of Montenegro.
The mayor of Podgorica had convincing reasons for this stance even then, in the summer of 2022. “One is the political and anti-Montenegrin actions of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the other is the religious feelings of the people who belong to that organization, among whom there are a significant number of those who support the DPS!”
If Ivan Vuković had been inspired three and a half years ago as he was the other day (about Jovanović's government in Budva), he could have tweeted the same reasoning for the vote of confidence in Abazović's government. "An equally important reason is that by supporting and preserving the minority government, political stability in the country is preserved, on which, in my opinion, the European future of Montenegro also depends. These are the reasons why I believe that, although difficult for us as the greatest critics of the socio-political activities of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, the aforementioned decision is politically correct."
Vuković could have pointed out then that it is easy for DPS and sovereignist parties to make the right decision. if they look at what the instructions of Serbian President Vučić are, and how party-criminal structures close to the former DF and the media under the control of the Security and Information Agency (BIA) - wish for the fall of the current majorityAll with the aim of having the Government and Parliament taken over by anti-European and anti-Montenegrin forces - Professor IV did not tweet, but could have.
Speaking about possible negative reactions from the party leadership, Vuković says that he believes that it is the obligation of politicians, while preserving the principles they stand for, to promote positions that are in the interest of the state, even when they are aware that they will encounter misunderstanding or criticism from a smaller or larger number of party leaders or fellow MPs.
"In that sense, neither while I was mayor nor today as an MP do I 'hide' behind the party I belong to. I often hear well-intentioned comments from people who say that it is not particularly politically opportune and that it would probably be wiser to keep quiet about some of the difficult topics. Without denying that they are right and that I would be incomparably more comfortable in that comfort zone, I will, while I am engaged in politics, continue to communicate my views the way I have always done."
Oh, how fortunate that it was like that. And that Ivan Vuković, not caring about comfort, ignoring even well-intentioned suggestions from friends that some difficult topics should be kept quiet, always expressed what he thought, without calculations or political opportunism.
Then, for example, in 2018, he would have been the first to tell Đukanović, the weakened and exhausted leader of the DPS, that another candidacy of his for president was not in the interest of either the party or Montenegro. At that time, Professor Vuković could have referred to his reports to Friedman Haus from the previous decade, where, as a young assistant and already an experienced analyst, he wrote that leadership ambitions and character represent a barrier and obstacle to the development of independent institutions and the decolonization of Montenegro. For its transfer from a private to a democratic state. Not exactly in these words, but that was the point.
Or, when Vuković was pulled out of a hat overnight and imposed by the party as a candidate for mayor, it was expected that, not caring about comfort and well-intentioned suggestions that some difficult topics should be kept quiet, he would be ready to snap at the party boss like one of the companions on X: “In politics, everything is a matter of trust. If I lost yours, I'm sorry. All the best”! Or that at least as the newly elected mayor of Podgorica he followed the policies of Prime Minister Marković more than those of party leader Đukanović. On many issues, for example in his relationship with independent media, without pandering to those he today calls “the cesspool of the Security and Information Agency”. Unfortunately, when a friend from that period pointed out to him the damage he would suffer due to the war with Vijesti, directing him to cooperation and a professional relationship, he knew how to retort: “So that I pass as Duško Marković”! With which, unfortunately, Ivan Vuković chose comfort and party leeward, ignoring the real interest of not only the state, but even his own party.
Where would DPS and Vuković be today, and where would DF and BIA be, if in 2019, at the request, even the begging of Metropolitan Amfilohije to abandon the bizarre Law on Freedom of Religion, the Mayor of Podgorica Vuković announced what was not politically opportune for the party leadership at the time! That a common language should be found with the Serbian Orthodox Church "because of the large number of people who religiously belong to that organization, among whom there is a significant number of those who support DPS"! And because of the identity mosaic that makes our country so unique!
If Ivan had pulled his foot back and had not hidden behind a faceless and stupid party majority for personal comfort and a piece of power, the DPS would have won the most impressive victory in the short history of Montenegrin parliamentarism in the 2020 elections. Mandić would have ended up in retirement after the crash and shipwreck instead of leading the Assembly, while the leash of the MK pet would have been in the hands of Milo Đukanović and not Aleksandar Vučić. Amfilohije might still be alive, and the Metropolis would at least be an autonomous unit under the provisional roof of the Serbian Orthodox Church, if not an autocephalous church. Methodius would have been his first pick for the religious head of Montenegrins, while Joanikije would have ended up in Semberija or Pomoravlje, as some left-wing and irrelevant bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The DPS would therefore still be the government, Zdravko Krivokapić an anonymous professor at the University of Montenegro with no political experience, Spajki a stockbroker in Singapore, and Jakov some useless scribbler in the analytical department of the EBRD. Dritan's wish would be to be PPV, let alone prime minister, while Nik Đeljošaj would still enjoy football, Dečić, and hanging out with the "general." If only Ivan Vuković had stayed true to himself and his personal principles, not caring about comfort and the party cesspool.
But, let there be no confusion - thank you to Professor Vuković for enduring the party's oppression by leader Đukanović for years and for keeping silent for the sake of personal comfort and career on numerous occasions when he himself saw that solutions were being proposed that were against Montenegro's European path. And which directly worked in the interests of the president of the neighboring country and his political staff in Montenegro. Because thanks to that silence, not only of Vuković but also of all the old and new leaders of the DPS, that party self-destructed in 2020.
She defeated herself and thus opened the space for the most significant event in the democratic maturation of society - the first change of government in elections. That is why I have no choice but to support Ivan Vuković, in his latest stance! And to believe that if he has not done so far, in the future he will never again listen to well-intentioned advice that it is best to keep important matters and difficult topics quiet. And that from today on, while he is politically active, he will always publicly defend positions that are in the interest of the state and its prosperity. Like in Budva for example. A smart man learns from other people's mistakes, and sometimes from his own. MP Vuković could tweet something similar. Because, better late than never.
Bonus video:
