The government is an example of incompetence and irresponsibility towards the economy of Montenegro and its citizens, said the vice-president of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Sanja Damjanović.
"Everything that has been painstakingly built over the years, this government is destroying with lightning speed. Four ministers have already lost the confidence of the parliament, and in any democratic country this would have meant the resignation of the entire government a long time ago. However, the prime minister and his ministers are showing their true face - their seats and self-promotion from the democracy, economic and social development of Montenegro," Damjanović stated in the announcement.
According to her, when the Government criticized the economic citizenship program throughout the previous year, it referred to the positions of the European Commission (EC) and the processes that were launched against Cyprus and Malta.
As she stated, the statements of the prime minister and individual ministers alternated between statements that it was a very bad deal for Montenegro, which is suffering criticism from international partners and the wider community.
"As a result of these populist and blanket statements, the government officially adopted the conclusion at the session held on April 18 last year that it will not extend the validity of this program after December 31 last year," said Damjanović.
However, as she said, the government was very shy and rarely talked about the economic effects of this program, which was designed by the government of Duško Marković.
"The program brought to Montenegro investments worth over 450 million euros, over 2,8 thousand planned new jobs, the largest investment in the north in the recent history of Montenegro with a direct inflow into the budget of over 20 million euros. And what are we going to do now? How to justify the cancellation of this program while we are not yet a full member of the European Union (EU)? Is economic knowledge necessary to assess the extremely serious effect of this program for the development of Montenegro? Of course not," claimed Damjanović. She stated that "when you are on at the peak of your populist attacks on the common sense of the citizens, then there is nothing left but to save what can be saved from the government's failed policies and to make the only possible decision - to extend the economic citizenship program of Montenegro". "And that secretly, on December 31 last in an electronic session, even though the regular session was held only two days earlier. This is a miserable attempt to hide the incompetence and superficiality of the Government. This speaks volumes about the Government's capacity to lead a responsible economic policy," said Damjanović. She said that in the aforementioned decision investors are required to invest another EUR 100 thousand in the Innovation Fund of Montenegro in addition to the levies so far. "It is the Innovation Fund, which is also the result of the work of the previous government and the Ministry of Science, defined in the Law on Innovation Activity adopted on July 30, 2020. That same Innovation Fund is not yet functioning and who knows when it will, and the Government had over a year to make it operational," said Damjanović. She said that this Government is "neither in heaven nor on earth", but soon it will surely be in the past. "Montenegro will show once again that it is above populism, nationalism and retrograde policies. "Soon, Montenegro will again be governed by progressive forces and return it to the track of development for which it fought for decades," concluded Damjanović.
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