The decision to join NATO can be made in the parliament or in a referendum, but it will be decided when Montenegro receives an invitation for membership, said the national coordinator for membership in the Alliance, Nebojša Kaluđerović.
"I don't know if anyone said anything against the referendum, except that we repeat the fact that there are two ways to check the will of the citizens, one is the parliament, and the other is the referendum," said Kaluđerović, commenting on the call by Snežana Jonica, MP of the Socialist People's Party. for the Government to check the growth of support for NATO membership in a referendum.
"Do they mind that at this moment there is a two-thirds majority in the parliament," said Kaluđerović, adding that the matter will be decided when Montenegro receives an invitation for membership.
"The moment we receive an invitation, it is very legitimate to decide whether we want to do it in one way or another, because we have neither constitutional nor legal obligations to follow one path," Kaluđerović assessed.
When asked by a journalist, he clarified that the Communication Team received a grant from the Norwegian government, which at the time was worth 213,6 thousand euros.
"Let me be precise now, because last time I may not have been to the end, saying that it is about 220 thousand euros, that is, that is the amount of the Norwegian grant that we received according to all the procedures required by one of the most developed countries in the world," said Kaluđerović.
He explained that the grant at the time the Communication Team received it amounted to 1,8 million Norwegian kroner, which was then 213.624.50 euros.
According to him, this information can be verified through the Norwegian government, and it is the money, as he stated, that is used by the Communication Team.
Kaluđerović reiterated that Montenegro and the Communication Team cooperate with other entities, such as Slovakia, the Sector for Public Diplomacy in Brussels, mentioning various grants from the United States of America and other countries.
"The Norwegian grant was made to support the public dialogue, which was conceptually designed on our part, and passed the strict procedures of the Norwegian colleagues", said Kaluđerović.
He explained that public dialogue implies the participation of everyone, including those who, as he stated, today have objections to the way it is being done, as well as those who participated in that dialogue on an equal basis expressing completely opposite views.
"To make it clear to everyone, what we are dealing with today is a public dialogue with which we want to shed light on the process of Montenegro's accession to NATO from all aspects, in order to bring the importance of accession closer," said Kaluđerović.
When asked by a journalist to comment on the opposition's claims about the disputed data regarding support for NATO membership, Kaluđerović said that the data he presented was something that was already known.
"What I said is actually what we presented a month or two ago and what they know very well," said Kaluđerović.
These are, as he said, the data of the latest, in-depth research on the support of public opinion for membership, conducted by Ipsos Strategic Marketing, one of, as he stated, the most renowned companies in that field.
"The research was conducted on a sample of 1.236 citizens using the face-to-face methodology," said Kaluđerović.
He reminded that the research was done at the end of March, and the result was 46 percent for and 42 percent against membership.
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