Deputies of the Montenegrin Assembly elected new ministers in the Government who, as assessed by Prime Minister Milo Đukanović, are competent candidates of the ruling coalition.
Zoran Pažin, Budimir Šegrt, Predrag Bošković and Pavle Goranović were elected as ministers in the departments of justice, health, education and culture. The new Minister of Labor and Social Welfare is Zorica Kovačević.
44 deputies of the ruling coalition and Jelisava Kalezić from the Democratic Front voted for the election of new ministers, and 23 abstained.
Đukanović, as he said when proposing candidates, is convinced that he has proposed competent and responsible candidates from the available staff of the ruling coalition to fill vacant ministerial positions.
"I ask you to carefully consider and support these proposals, so that the Government continues to deal with the demands of the further economic and democratic development of Montenegro in its full capacity," said Đukanović.
Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) MP Milutin Simović said that the selection of ministers should be approached more and more with a sense of obligation, responsibility and the necessary involvement in the joint creation of proposals for reaching the necessary goals such as a higher quality of life and standard of citizens, a fairer and safer society.
He thanked Kovačević for her past cooperation in the club of deputies and stated that he is sure that she will perform her new duties with dedication and responsibility, with a refined sense of humanity and fairness towards the needs of all citizens.
The MP of Positive Montenegro, Darko Pajović, said that this party will not support, as he said, the reconstruction of the Government, and the three key reasons for this are the economy, crime and corruption, and the electoral process.
As he said, according to the personnel composition, they have different thinking and they agree that some people should definitely be given a chance.
"The bottom line is that the government of unemployment, the government that abolished solidarity and continued the policy continuity to take care of the well-to-do ruling class, increasing the gap between the rich and the poor, is absolutely not the government that will get the support of Pozitivna," said Pajović.
He said that a strong turn in the democratic and economic sense is needed, stating that until there is a verdict for corruption and organized crime and a message is sent that organized crime does not pay, it is difficult to expect an improvement in the economic sphere.
Member of the Democratic Front (DF), Nebojša Medojević repeated that this political bloc does not recognize the legitimacy of the current government and will continue to boycott the Prime Minister's Hour, but that today he wants to remind the citizens of the consequences of its rule during 25 years.
"Today, Montenegro is facing debt slavery, bankruptcy, panic decisions are being made and there is nothing left to sell. It is easy to deal with statistics and economics when you have something to sell and borrow," Medojević said.
That is why, he believes, a systemic change is necessary.
"You can't do anything in this system anymore. No matter how hard you try, the train is going on its route and the country is entering a critical situation. You are moving down the path of no return," Medojević said.
He believes that the solution is organized changes and fair elections.
"Without democracy and freedom, there is no economic progress," Medojević said.
The president of the Socialist People's Party (SNP), Srđan Milić, said that the problem in Montenegro is the system, not the individual.
"In Montenegro, the effectiveness of the legal system and the creation of competitiveness of the Montenegrin economy have not been achieved. Developing the economy through borrowing is the burden that the next generations will pay," said Milić.
He said that the rules of the game do not apply to everyone in Montenegro.
"We have a financial system that has clear monopoly rules, banks that have joined together and are the saviors of daily liquidity, and we have regulators that are not," Milić believes.
The crisis, he added, calls for creativity, and above all, courage.
"Courage to solve problems in your own backyard and to define why the program policies presented in your exposé are not being implemented," said Milić.
He stated that Montenegro needs more legal certainty, more generous attention from the state, "and the possibility to say that we have an economy, an economy and create production that will replace exports, because today we cover a fifth of what we produce".
He announced that the SNP will hold a dozen thematic conferences from Friday on how to solve the problems facing Montenegro.
Mladen Bojanić, an independent MP, believes that professional changes will not contribute to better work of the Government.
"We have no illusions that anything will change by the end of the mandate. We need reforms and not just personnel changes," said Bojanic and added that loyalty to the party is the first and basic motive for staffing in the Government.
He commented on the allegations from Đukanović's presentation.
"You say that Montenegro is moving forward, which means more legal security, more freedom and rights. Halfway through your mandate, we have neither more freedom, nor legal certainty, nor rights," said Bojanic.
He referred to Đukanović's statement that Montenegro needs reliable, professional and strong health care.
"I wouldn't take advantage of someone else's misfortune, but we know that nothing has been done in that area," Bojanić believes.
The salary, he added, is lower than it was at the beginning of the mandate.
"For foreign direct investments, you say that they must be bigger, but I must say that at this level of the rule of law, they do not contribute well to everyone, but to individuals," said Bojanic.
The head of the parliamentary group of the Social Democratic Party, Borislav Banović, believes that the election for ministers, a year and a half before the end of the Government's mandate, is not the optimal timing for creating systemic solutions, stating that it puts the new ministers in a difficult position to offer new ideas and implement them in such a short period of time.
"It seems that it is a space for correcting what is wrong and completing what has not been done in the already defined government policy, and rather a space for maintenance than for radical changes," he said.
Banović said that in that short period of time, the new ministers have a chance to try to face current problems with great commitment, without high expectations. "In addition to major challenges, based on the biographies of the ministers, there are well-founded expectations that they are experts, and I hope they will be successful."
He reminded that the department of education has 158 million euros of public money available for this year, stating that the biggest challenges in that area are solving the structure of qualifications, especially in higher education, and improving the quality of education.
"In the Ministry of Health, there are 172 million social funds for this year. The new problem is the broken trust in the health system, so the new minister needs to restore it. Better management, services and supply of medicines are needed, as well as higher salaries and shorter waiting times for procedures." Banovic said.
In the field of labor and social welfare, where 73,5 million is available for this year, he cited the fastest possible reduction of unemployment and fair distribution of social assistance as the biggest challenges.
According to Banović, for the area of justice, with a budget of 39,5 million euros, the big challenges are in European and Euro-Atlantic integrations, and in culture, there is an unused space for joining and uplifting society. Amer Kalač from the Bosniak Party said that they expect the highest quality solutions from the Government when it comes to the selection of personnel, stating that education and culture require special attention from the state, because there are numerous accumulated problems that need to be solved.
He said that more care about culture is needed, especially when it comes to protecting the cultural heritage of all peoples in Montenegro.
"We also consider the one related to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare to be a high-quality personnel solution," said Kalač, adding that the functioning of the Health Center in Danilovgrad during the mandate of Zorica Kovačević speaks best of her leadership abilities.
According to him, with today's appointment of ministers, the Government continues with the necessary reforms, and strengthening the economy and creating new jobs remains a priority in the next period as well.
The leader of the Liberal Party (LP), Andrija Popović, said that Montenegro needs a strong government, not a truncated one, stating that the party is sincerely looking forward to its reconstruction, especially to meet the historic undertakings for the country - joining NATO and starting the construction of the highway.
"We need the strongest possible representation of the players, that is, the ministers we have. The LP will support the election of new members of the Government, even though we are not its constituents and cannot influence some things that must be done better. you don't have the best solutions for certain positions," he said.
Popović said that he expects Đukanović to put in place the new government as soon as possible, because a quarter of the team has been changed, and he appealed to the new minister of health to immediately go to Bijelo Polje and talk to parents who are on strike, demanding the suspension of doctors suspected of infecting babies.
He criticized the work of the Public Service, stating that there is a very pronounced bias in news broadcasts in favor of the strongest party, but also a non-parliamentary one, formed last year. He believes that it is about political corruption and that there is work for the Supreme State Prosecutor as well.
Popović said that this is the position of the LP only, not the club of minority parties, "and as for the support for the reconstruction of the Government, I believe that our team will agree on that".
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