The Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and its coalition partners would find themselves in quite serious trouble in the parliamentary elections on August 30 if voters decided solely on the basis of the Government's performance in the previous four years.
This shows a comparison of what Prime Minister Duško Marković promised in his exposé on November 28, 2016 with what has been done so far. Marković has fulfilled approximately a third of the 30 or so promises, a third of the plans are being worked on or it is difficult to draw an objective assessment of how far they have come, while for the rest it can be stated that nothing has been done.
Four years ago, the Prime Minister said in the Parliament that they "have an ambitious plan" to "close all chapters, that is, end the negotiation process" with the EU by the end of 2019, that they will prepare "for the start of the construction of the second section of the Mateševo-Andrijevica highway" and that he wants to lead a "Government of Dialogue".
Four years after that, and the informal balance clause of a year and a half due to the lack of results in the fight against corruption and freedom of the media and almost constant crises within the EU, the Montenegrin Government only managed to open all 33 chapters two months ago, whereby at the end of 2016 24 were already open. In four years, not a single chapter was closed.
The several times delayed completion of the construction of the priority section of the highway has now, according to the announcement of the Minister of Transport Osman Nurković, been postponed again, this time to June 2021.
Meanwhile, Montenegro unsuccessfully tried to secure financing from the European Investment Bank for the second part of the highway, because, according to foreign experts, it is economically unsustainable.
Even before the end of the mandate, it was clear that Marković's government would not bear the epithet, as he said, of a government of dialogue with all relevant social structures. Montenegro is now an even more polarized society than at the end of 2016, which, it seems, was mainly influenced by two things.
The first is the rejection of a dialogue on some kind of technical or transitional government, for which the readiness of part of the opposition was questionable, and after the "Envelope" corruption affair. The institutions, primarily the prosecutor's office, responded to this scandal by mostly ignoring it, which caused the revolt of the citizens and the protests of the "Resist" movement.
Another moment that led to the deepening of divisions in society was the way the Law on Freedom of Religion was adopted, and several of its disputed provisions.
Four years ago, Marković said in parliament that he would be ready for a "full and open dialogue with all parties", including the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. "Not to judge in church matters, but to affirm the fundamental values believed in by the Orthodox part of the population of Montenegro".
The dialogue between the Government and the Serbian Orthodox Church came about after mass protests under the motto "We will not give away the holy places".
It is worth reminding that Marković also promised a dialogue with the media and NGOs, but there was no progress except for talks without an epilogue in the last year of his mandate about the Alliance with Europe with part of the civil sector, all relevant media, SDP and URA.
Corona returned unemployment to the starting point
Marković's government was successful when it comes to better tax collection and reducing unemployment.
Thus, according to official statistics, the unemployment rate fell from 17,7 percent in November 2016 to 15,8 percent in 2019, but the coronavirus epidemic caused the unemployment rate to return to the level when Marković's government began its mandate.
Like all DPS governments, this one also promised growth in income from tourism, where last year was a record good one, and stable economic growth, which was somewhat successful until the end of the third year of the mandate. This was reflected in GDP growth, which the Prime Minister was bragging about, but which the citizens do not feel.
Marković fulfilled his promise to complete the connection of Montenegro and Italy with a submarine cable, but not to build the second block of the Pljevlja Thermal Power Plant. In 2016, he advocated that "current public spending be financed without new borrowing".
In 2018, however, his government signed a 250 million euro loan of support from the World Bank, while now continuing to borrow from commercial banks to cover budget expenditures due to the coronavirus.
Marković's statements from 2016 that we must trace a path that leads to the establishment of a downward trend in the budget deficit and public debt, and return to the limits of the Maastricht criteria are now far from reality.
"We will continue with the reform of public administration, so that it is more rational, efficient and provides quality services for citizens and the economy. This means - strengthening the rule of law, transparency and responsibility in the public sector as a service for citizens," said Marković in 2016.
Last year, the government increased allocations for salaries in the public sector by 20 million euros compared to 2016, the rule of law and transparency are the remaining problems of this government, which are causing Montenegro to trot on the way to the EU.
The Prime Minister gave himself and his associates a "five" after three years of work, DPS President Milo Đukanović rated the first year of the Government's work as "solid".
The above data show that the Government's four-year performance could be considered rather modest.
This is evidenced by the decline of Montenegro on the lists of all relevant international organizations.
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