The level of democracy in Montenegro is similar to that in Georgia, which is also in the group of "hybrid regimes", where we were last classified in 2003.
In terms of media freedom, Montenegro is between Mozambique and Angola, the worst in the region, this year's 105th place means a drop of 60 places compared to the referendum in 2006.
The new delay in the construction of the section of the highway and the new demands of the Chinese make the fear that Montenegro, instead of being on the Silk Road, has ended up in a debt silk rope, in the company of Asian and African debtor countries, such as Sri Lanka or Djibouti.
The applied knowledge of Montenegrin primary and secondary school students is at the level of their peers from Moldova.
This is how Montenegro looked in the 14th year of independence in the eyes of Freedom House, Reporters Without Borders, analyzes by foreign analysts and experts, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The promises about the democratization of Montenegro from 2006, with the map of European values obtained in 2012, when the accession negotiations with the EU were opened, found themselves on the train to the East.
In the last 12 months, not a single negotiation chapter with the EU has been opened or closed, while a working document on the state of affairs in chapters 23 and 24 arrived from Brussels in November last year with an unusually harsh tone warning of stagnation in the judiciary, the fight against corruption and of fundamental rights, which is a confirmation of the allegation that an informal balance clause was introduced to Montenegro.
The government adopted a new negotiation model a few days ago, under the radar of the public, which was accepted by the EU due to France's insistence that they first fix things at home - in the EU - in order to deal with the expansion to the Western Balkans, and which was also introduced because of what an experienced French diplomat Pierre Mirel called the "Montenegro paradox" - too little was done in eight years of negotiations for EU membership.
Due to the coronavirus, in the 14th year of independence, it was warned about the mortality of the idea of the previous government, Milo Đukanović, about the privatization of the health system, which, according to general assessments, was solidly fighting the epidemic of the new virus.
However, over time it turned out that the health system is politicized like other segments of Montenegrin society in which, if you are not a member of DPS or satellite parties, you have no chance for success or career advancement.
Because of the coronavirus, it has become obvious that an economy structured in this way, based on tourism, is unsustainable.
Due to the pandemic, the government did not formally introduce the state of emergency that Montenegro has been in for months.
The beginning of the 14th year of independence marked the end of civil protests led by the "Resist" movement due to the affairs disclosed by the fugitive Duško Knežević. And while the Special Prosecutor's Office only scratched the surface of the "Envelope" affair and Ivan Brajović's revolving card, Montenegro continued to be rocked by scandals - allegations of corruption in the Prosecutor's Office, the secret sale of the orchard of the President of the Supreme Court Vesna Medenica to the controversial businessman Zoran Bećirović, housing and loans on preferential terms for officials, corruption in the construction inspection in which Pavle Radunović resigned from the post of minister due to objective responsibility.
The VDT, part of the Judicial Council, is in an acting state, Medenica's third mandate, which she counts as her second, was questioned, as well as the question of whether the Constitutional Court can have a chairman instead of a president.
The public is clearly arguing that part of the problem in Montenegro is the opposition, especially the DF, which contaminates the public with hate speech, chauvinism and conspiracy theories.
The leaders of that alliance, Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, are awaiting a second-instance verdict for the case known as a coup, after they were sentenced to five years in prison each about a year ago for attempted terrorism on the day of the parliamentary elections in 2016. Montenegro enters the election year with I am breaking the election rules, while no one from the opposition is even thinking about a boycott.
Disputed provisions of the law relating to the property of religious communities caused the SPC riots in Montenegro, which represent the most massive protest gatherings in the recent history of Montenegro.
All of this was followed by Serbia's intense interference in the internal affairs of Montenegro and non-diplomatic messages mainly from the environment of Đukanović and Vučić, whose personal relationships are still unclear.
Montenegro enters its 15th year of independence divided along the lines of the referendum, with pre-invoices from international addresses that have started arriving to the authorities due to persistently wrong policies and, as US Ambassador Judy Rajnke assessed the other day, endemic corruption.
A message about rounding up identity through the autocephalous church
In the 14th year of independence, Đukanović was re-elected by acclamation as president of the DPS at the Congress in the Bemax Arena, while Prime Minister Duško Marković remained his deputy. Milan Roćen became the president of the Political Council of DPS, the position that was covered by Svetozar Marović, who is still in Belgrade, allegedly undergoing treatment that has been going on since 2016.
Right from the Congress of the DPS, Đukanović sent a message about the need to round out the national identity through the autocephalous Montenegrin church, which was continued in the Assembly of Montenegro, where the ruling majority and the SDP voted for the Law on Freedom of Religion, with outbursts of primitivism on the part of DF MPs. a.
Due to the decision of the DPS to prosecute this law, the Democrats left the Committee for the Reform of Electoral Legislation, which, with the mediation of the head of the EU Delegation, Aiva Orav, they agreed with the DPS.
Bonus video:
