"Montenegro was, in many respects, a model country among the candidate countries for the EU. But by all accounts she is no longer that!” says Tanja Fajon, member of the EU Parliament. And thereby expresses his concern for the latest development of the situation in Montenegro.
There is no such crisis - including this current health crisis - that could serve as an excuse for undermining democratic standards, she adds. And he thinks about violations of the privacy of Montenegrin citizens: a few weeks ago, the government published on its official internet portal the full names and addresses of people who tested positive for the corona virus. And he is also referring to the ongoing conflict with the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which marked the months before the corona crisis and which will probably continue to affect it until the parliamentary elections, in October of this year at the latest.
In the middle of the corona-crisis, the American organization Freedom House issued a bad testimony about the behavior of the Montenegrin government. In its annual report on the state of democracy, this organization defined Montenegro as a "hybrid regime" located in the "gray zone between democracy and open autocracy." And this organization accuses the political elite of Montenegro of authoritarian rule, abuse of power, serious deficits in the judiciary, the fight against corruption and media freedom.
The ruling Democratic Party of Socialists will not benefit from its corona crisis management. This phenomenon is known as the "preventive paradox": since Montenegro went through the crisis smoothly, the Montenegrin public did not register it as a "real" crisis. And thus neither the success of preventive measures.
On the other hand: it will have no influence on the behavior of voters in the elections. Despite all the international criticism directed at the political leadership of the country, especially that Montenegro has not made visible progress in accession negotiations with the EU for a long time, observers believe that the DPS, the party of long-term regent Milo Đukanović, who has been ruling for 30 years, will win again in the parliamentary elections in October.
Montenegro was the last country in Europe where a proven corona infection broke out. And it has a chance to be the first in Europe to declare the end of the corona epidemic. According to WHO regulations, this requires that there are no new outbreaks of the virus in the country for 28 days in a row. When we wrote this, there were already 17 "corona-free days".
As the first "corona-free" destination in Europe, Montenegro hopes to still be able to save the tourist season in 2020. The first steps in that direction have already been taken. Beaches and hotels have been open since May 18. And from June 1, it will most likely be possible to travel to neighboring countries.
Author: Srđan Govedarica, with the cooperation of Zoran Ikonić and Dejan Stefanović Translation: Mirko Vuletić
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