Koprivica: They want to replace the will of the people with the will of the prime minister

The publicized ambition of Prime Minister Milo Đukanović's government to place itself above and beyond the influence of the legislative branch, for the sake of deciding on nebulous investment projects, is an announcement of constitutional destruction, claim Democratic Montenegro.

Democratic Montenegro strongly advocates that the separation of powers must be the principle on which the rule of law and constitutional democracy is organized and structured.

"Both of the mentioned branches of government must be subject to the principle of responsibility: the government answers to the parliament, and the parliament answers to the electorate. Democracy recognizes and recognizes disagreement, and it is resolved by a predetermined procedure. In a democracy, the operative formula for the resolution of disagreement precedes the disagreement, and must not follow it. Citizens must judge the work of the parliament in free elections," said the vice-president of the Democrats, Momo Koprivica.

He accused Prime Minister Milo Đukanović of wanting to make kleptocracy official.

The imperative of democracy is not the exercise of power, but the limitation and balancing of power, because the mere exercise of power is also present in autocracy, according to the Democrats.

"The prime minister is undermining the system of state power and contaminating the constitutional order with his scandalous statement. This plan is an expression of distress that the self-abolition of democracy by the free will of citizens is not likely and an expression of the necessity to deform democracy through electoral corruption, designing divisions, but also disempowering the institution of people's representation," says Koprivica.

By attacking democratic principles, the prime minister is damaging the investment climate, according to the party.

Democrats point out that serious and long-term oriented investors do not want to invest in a country that is governed by decrees and decrees, not laws.

"The Prime Minister must know that laws precede decrees, not the other way around, and that the decree is the function of the law, not the law the function of the decree. "Investments come with firm laws, not with changeable acts of the Government," emphasizes Koprivica.

"Governments change, but the state remains, and therefore the state, not just the government, must stand behind a serious investment agreement. Even the most unserious investor has in mind what the prime minister overlooks: the probability that the government may be replaced, and he will also give up investment or change the investment plan or participate with the kleptocratic government in abolishing constitutional principles. Forcing the executive to adhere to the democratic procedure convinces investors of the firmness of the rules of the game and of the justification and lower risk of long-term investment projects".

Democrats point out that Montenegro is facing a dramatic situation - increasingly strong pressures towards the comprehensive democratization of society lead the current government to intensify corrupt activities in order to create a material basis for resisting changes and securing a future outside the country where they want to seduce an exotic autocracy through constitutional destruction.

"The kleptocratic government does not see in the legal system a hoop for force, but a source of personal enrichment of state officials by wanting to create 'bottlenecks' that will force citizens and businessmen to remove them by paying bribes to government officials. We are witnessing that the kleptocratic government multiplies taxes on personal consumption in order to create conditions for survival and for corrupt extortion of citizens by the clientelistic apparatus," says Koprivica, adding that the Montenegrin government was inspired by the experience of Indonesia, where Suharto encouraged privatizations that were a transfer of social wealth. to the companies of persons connected with him and his associates.

Democrats warn that the investment policy is not implemented by the prime minister's legal sketches, which will be expanded as he needs.

"The kleptocratic government has no motive for its legal draft to be neither good nor perfect, because it knows that it is not checked by multiple eyes, that it is not exposed to effective criticism, and that it can change it whenever and however it wants," the announcement reads.

There is a tendency for the will of the prime minister to replace the will of the people, which, as Koprivica claims, indicates a tendency for the arbitrariness and will of the prime minister to be above the Constitution and legislation.

Democrats are committed to making respect for rights the only source of political power.

"Our ambition is a state of the rule of law, not a state with regulations and decrees. The impact of rights on the state must be strong and equal for everyone," the announcement concludes.