Former MPs and ministers from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) resigned from party positions before being appointed as ambassadors, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MVP).
However, until yesterday afternoon on the website of the DPS, the names of the ambassador to Italy Sanja Vlahović, the ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina Obrad Miša Stanišić, and the ambassador to Serbia Tarzan Milošević were among the members of the GO. The names were removed from the site after the "Vijesti" journalist sent questions to the DPS public relations service. Stanišić is on the list of members of the DPS Political Council, which is not an obstacle because the Statute stipulates that persons who are not engaged in the party can be members of that party body. "Before being appointed as ambassadors, the former members of parliament resigned from their party positions in accordance with Article 109 of the Law on Foreign Affairs, which stipulates that a diplomat cannot be a member of a political party," the ministry led by Srđan Darmanović said.
The ruling party claims that Stanišić, Vlahovićeva and Milošević were appointed as members of the Main Board by function. At the time when the party congress was held and members of the GO were appointed, Vlahović was the minister of science, Stanišić was a deputy, and Milošević was the political director of the party.
"The ambassadors you mention in the question were members of the Main Board, exactly that way - by function. In Article 48 of the DPS Statute, it is written that the membership of a GO member by function ends with the termination of the function. Considering that the mentioned persons have automatically suspended the performance of the functions through which they were members of the GO (MPs, members of the Government), their membership in the GO DPS has also been terminated and there are no obstacles to the performance of the functions to which they were appointed", they claim in DPS service.
The Law on Foreign Affairs stipulates that the minister, in addition to professionals, can appoint diplomats who do not work in the ministry and who are mostly chosen from among former state and party officials. Before the president appoints a new ambassador, the Committee for International Relations must give its opinion. Diplomats are now former DPS official Boro Vučinić, who is ambassador to Croatia, former health minister Budimir Šegrt in Poland, and former advisor to the prime minister, Aleksandar Eraković, who represents Montenegro in Spain. Former leader of the Democratic Union of Albanians (DUA) Ferhat Dinoša is ambassador to Kosovo, former Deputy Prime Minister Vujica Lazović represents Montenegro in Slovenia, and former director of the Gaming Authority Aleksandar Moštrokol is ambassador to Hungary.
Former member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Borisav Banović is ambassador to Great Britain, while member of the Bosniak Party (BS) Nedžad Drešević should be ambassador to Albania. The ambassador to China, Darko Pajović, is listed in the register of political parties as an authorized person representing Positive Montenegro, although he resigned from the position of party president in 2016. The executive director of the Center for Civic Education (CGO) Daliborka Uljarević believes that in Montenegro there is a noticeable trend of appointing politicians as ambassadors more often. She warned that the practices of democratic states point to a completely opposite approach, through the maximum limitation of the number of political ambassadors.
"There are no clear criteria when appointing political ambassadors, let's say some of their special qualifications that would recommend them for the specific country to which they are sent. It even happens that quite a few of them have limited knowledge of the English language, or no knowledge of at least one other language, and there is no data that they undergo adequate preparation. At the same time, it is an "open secret" that not the best political personnel are sent to diplomacy, but mainly those who have served and those for whom no position can be found in Montenegro. This collapses the undeveloped diplomatic system of Montenegro", claims Uljarević.
The Vice President of Democratic Montenegro, Dragan Krapović, believes that the political appointment of ambassadors continues the practice of collapsing institutions and corruption at all levels.
"The cases of appointment of DPS staff are only a confirmation that in Montenegro, instead of positive selection, a naked partocracy is in force. It only matters if you are a party soldier of the ruling structure. If so, everything is possible, including representing the country abroad without having any experience or knowledge in diplomacy, international law and international relations. With this behavior, the DPS continues with the usual practice of degrading the state and its institutions, all in order to achieve narrow party interests and reward party followers for their loyalty," Krapović said.
Marija Radinović from the Socialist People's Party (SNP) believes that Montenegrin diplomacy has long since become a network for flattering "deserving officials and loyal members of the ruling parties".
"It is certain that certain Montenegrin diplomats have lost their compass and no longer choose a way to defend their own interests and the interests of the ruling elite. And why would they when they receive several thousand euros a month for that," she stated in the announcement.
Uljarević: For Pejović, there were other yards
Uljarević reminds that the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (ASK) in the case of the former Minister of European Affairs, negotiator with the EU and ambassador, Aleksandar Andrije Pejović, found a violation of the Law on Foreign Affairs due to the incompatibility of diplomatic and consular functions.
"In his case, it was the incompatibility of the function of ambassador with membership in the Main Board of DPS. There is no reason not to establish the same now in relation to those ambassadors for whom it is indisputable, on the basis of publicly available data, that they are members of party bodies or authorized persons for its representation", said Uljarević.
Krapović: Synonymous with political corruption ended up as an ambassador
Recalling the decision of Pozitivna to vote for confidence in the Government in 2016, Krapović believes that Pajović negatively marked the history of parliamentarism in Montenegro.
"That textbook example of political corruption represents a kind of erasure of everything that has ever been written about democracy. It is clear to everyone that the election of Pajović as president of the highest legislative and representative house of the citizens of Montenegro is part of the price that DPS then agreed to pay in exchange for three votes of fake opposition members of Pozitivna, thanks to which the Government of Milo Đukanović survived in 2016. "The person who became synonymous with political corruption was rewarded for changing the electoral will of the citizens with the privileged position of ambassador to China and Indonesia," he claims.
Bonus video:
