The President of Montenegro and the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Milo Đukanović, guest on the Bosnian N1 television, when asked if he will remain at the head of the DPS, said that he received his last mandate at the congress last year.
"By the end of the year, we will have an extraordinary congress and it will be an opportunity to discuss all issues, including the necessary personnel changes, in order to regain some of the lost trust as quickly as possible," said Đukanović.
He also said that there was no decline in the parliamentary elections on August 30, but that after 30 years in power, the DPS won a mandate less than the current majority.
"This is not about any decline, nor is it about the decline of anyone personally, including me. In 2018, I am the elected president of Montenegro in direct elections with 54 percent of support and with a mandate that will last a little less than three years . In the parliamentary elections, no decline occurred again. After 30 years in power, the Democratic Party of Socialists, together with its coalition partners, won one mandate less than the new parliamentary majority. There was no dishonorable outcome for pro-European politics in Montenegro. Something happened. which usually happens in democratic societies. Montenegro aspires to be a democratic society," said Đukanović.
He repeated that he will not resign from the position of president.
"SPC feather of Great Serbian nationalism"
He also said that the Serbian Orthodox Church "is the flagship of Great Serbian nationalism and Russian imperial interests in the Balkans."
He repeated that he accepts the will of the citizens and that he will not obstruct the formation of a new government.
"There was an announcement from the political competition that the current government will engage in some post-election political engineering. From the first statement on election day after the first results arrived, I announced that we accept the will of the citizens and that we will not obstruct the formation of a new government," Đukanović said in Pressing on N1.
Asked how he intends to defend Montenegro when the new majority will take over all the levers of power in Montenegro, he answered:
"I already explained the doubt that appeared in a part of the public. I said that we accept the results of the election, that we will not obstruct and slow down the process and that this is the best response of the DPS and the current ruling collation according to the interests of Montenegro".
According to him, he will work for the interests of the state at any cost.
"We are working in the interest of Montenegro at all costs, and what we did by recognizing the election results was primarily taking care of Montenegro's international reputation," he emphasized. "We will defend Montenegro in the way that the state can defend itself, first of all politically in the Parliament, but if necessary we will defend in other places as well. I said that we will use all means to oppose anyone who tries to threaten the state of Montenegro and our freedom." Đukanović pointed out.
As he said, if the change of government would imply jeopardizing the status of the state, then the answer would be to fight by all means.
"We are speaking in assumptions, I don't believe that this will happen, but that we will have the opportunity to conduct a dialogue in the parliamentary struggle about the direction and dynamics in which Montenegro will move towards its goals. If the change of government would imply jeopardizing the state's status, then my answer is this as you yourself interpreted. We will fight against threats to Montenegrin statehood and our freedom with all means, including those used by our ancestors in defense of the Montenegrin state and Montenegrin freedom," he added.
Asked why the priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church are mediating in the formation of the new government, the President of Montenegro replied:
"Because the basic idea of that policy is the idea of Serbianization of Montenegro. Since the restoration of Montenegrin independence, the Democratic Party of Socialists has resolutely insisted on a new system of values, on a civil state in Montenegro, despite the frequent attempts of the pro-Serbian opposition to reformulate Montenegro constitutionally. As you know, it is written in the constitution that Montenegro is civil, and the pro-Serbian opposition demanded that Montenegro be defined as the state of the Serbian and Montenegrin people. In addition, we insist on multi-ethnic democracy, the attitude towards minorities and the nationalist opposition - you know. You had the opportunity to see some of those you see pictures in the first days after the election," said Đukanović.
He added that "on the other hand, the nationalist opposition continuously, and especially in the pre-election campaign supported by the Serbian Orthodox Church, wanted to turn Montenegro away from those values".
"That policy persistently insists that Montenegro is a Serbian state that should be within the strategic, security and foreign policy interests of Russia. That policy insisted in its rhetoric and during the campaign that NATO is the Fourth Reich, that European civilization is a civilization of rotten values and that because of this, Montenegro is wrong when it insists on achieving membership in the European Union. It is completely clear that the striking fist of such a policy in the name of Greater Serbian nationalism and Russian imperial interests in the Balkans was the Serbian Orthodox Church, and hence the logical answer to the question: the priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church have acted and continue to act in accordance with those nationalist interests and interests for the identity pursuit of Montenegro," said Đukanović.
"I can't wait for Knežević to return, I'm not afraid of criminal charges"
Đukanović also said that he "can't wait" for the return of Duško Knežević to Montenegro, stressing that he is an "escaped criminal".
Atlas Group President Duško Knežević said earlier that he is ready to answer for what he did, but also that Djukanović "had better leave the country as soon as possible".
"Imagine those pretentiousness. This is about a man who is under several indictments of the Special Prosecutor's Office in Montenegro. It is about a man who until about ten or fifteen days ago was on the international wanted list of Interpol, who is under strict surveillance in London. In the procedure is to decide on his extradition to Montenegro and now such a man is making assessments and announcing that he or the official head of state of Montenegro will not be free when he returns to Montenegro. My answer is - I can't wait for him to change what is clearly his intention to he is running away from justice because he is a fugitive criminal, I can't wait for him to return to Montenegro, I can't wait for him to announce everything he has to the judicial authorities, and then it is not difficult to guess who will be found where, who will be in prison, and who will continue to perform public functions in the state of Montenegro", said Đukanović.
Commenting on allegations that criminal charges will be filed against him, he pointed out that he is not afraid of charges.
"I am not afraid of any criminal charges, I have held public functions for more than thirty years, and in all those years I had fierce competition and, I would say, often inappropriate criticism. Very often, accusations against me also came from regional addresses, most often from Belgrade, but also from pro-Beograd opposition in Montenegro. I am not afraid because I know how I have worked and I have always tried to unquestioningly respect the constitutional and legal system of Montenegro. So my status as a citizen does not depend on which political government will be in Montenegro It's already burning what I did, there's no room for anxiety. It's a rough, unargued political rhetoric whose goal was to produce animosity of the electorate towards me and the political structure that I represented. Now we have such an outcome in the elections and I'm convinced that the competent state authorities will perform their work as before, responsibly and in accordance with the constitution. And that they will not judge any individual on the basis of irresponsible and factual political rhetoric," Đukanović said.
When asked when he will formally give the mandate to Zdravko Krivokapić for the formation of the Government of Montenegro, he said that the constitution provides for a deadline of one month, announcing that he will do his job.
"The deadline set by the Constitution is one month, and I don't think even seven days have passed since that deadline, and we can hardly talk about procrastination. I will complete my work within the stipulated deadline and the candidate for the position of mandate will receive a mandate from me as president to form the Government." , he added.
"It is not true that I have business ties with Vučić"
Asked about his business ties with the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the President of Montenegro said that "that they do business is not true".
"It is ordinary political nonsense with which my competitors and those of Vučić in Serbia try to realize their political interests. I have never had any business or any interests with Vučić or any other statesman with whom I have met," said Đukanović. .
Regarding the assessment that "priests came to his head", he said that he was not responsible for the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion, but that he supported it with pleasure.
The President of Montenegro also said that he is "understandable with the dissatisfaction" of the traditional DF leaders who fought for their ideas, and that now that those ideas have won the upper hand in the elections, the leader of the "Black on White" coalition, Dritan Abazović, wants to remove them. from the process of constitution of government.
When asked if he had surrendered and if he would fight to return to power, Đukanović said:
"It was no accident that I surrendered".
Đukanović also said that during the last months, evaluations of their interest in the census could be heard from addresses from Belgrade, including Vućić.
"Imagine that I call from Montenegro and say that I am interested in the results of the census in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia. That statement confirms that there is an intention to interfere in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, that they want to carry out identity engineering in the region as "a Serbian world" would be created, which is a euphemism for the great Serbia, and in that way the worst thing to say about the people you want to address," said Đukanović.
"Playing with retrograde ideas can never end peacefully"
Đukanović also said that he often spoke "about insisting on the Serbian world" and about the Podgorica - Belgrade - Banjaluka triangle.
"As someone who was an actor in the politics of the XNUMXs in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia, the political and nationalist alienations of that time that led to terrible consequences in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia are fresh in my memory, and that is why I found it appropriate that with the first announcement of attempts to actualize politics of large-state nationalisms in the Western Balkans, I warn the domestic, regional and wider European public about the dangers of these phenomena. As we have witnessed together, the international public did not follow with the necessary attention all that was happening in the Western Balkans region. In the internal discussions we conducted we have often heard assessments that, supposedly, they are monitoring everything, but that we are far below the radar. I am afraid that what happened in the nineties, when we appear on the radar, that it will be a big problem that the retrograde processes that have developed in the meantime they will check and stop," he said.
He pointed to the similarity of the intentions of the politicians of the former Yugoslavia with the current situation.
"At the beginning of the 150.000s, the intention of the policy at that time in the area of ex-Yugoslavia was to show that multi-ethnic democracy in the Balkans is impossible and that instead the Balkans should be restructured so that three ethnically homogeneous enlarged states will be formed instead of the former ones - Greater Serbia, Greater Albania and Greater Croatia. As you know, instead we got a great tragedy and we got almost 25 human victims on the territory of Yugoslavia. We thought that this policy was buried after the Dayton Agreement. As we can see, it didn't take long, only XNUMX years, for similar ideas to revive again and that they encounter more understanding between all international centers than was the case in the nineties," said Đukanović.
He reminds that in the XNUMXs, most of the problems that happened on the territory of Yugoslavia were "authentically ours".
"We embarked on an escalation of nationalism, which over time turned into chauvinism and led to the emergence of ethnic cleansing and a bloody denouement in the territory of ex-Yugoslavia. In contrast, we had the European Union, which then offered us membership in the EU. SFRY's membership in the EU. I remember very vividly that James Baker, the US Secretary of State at the time, repeated such an offer from the key Western players to the SFRY. I also remember the constructive role that the official Moscow played in relation to Yugoslavia at that time. Today, when we analyze the political scene of the Western Balkans, we will see that the restoration of large-state projects is to a significant extent a reflex of the changes taking place in the wider political space. Not only in our region, but also in the European and Euro-Atlantic space. So today I can say that the international community certainly or very late it reacts or it doesn't react at all," Djukanovic said.
He said that the "Serbian world" is just a euphemism "for what we heard, watched and whose tragedy we witnessed in the early nineties. It is a euphemism for the idea of a great Serbia".
"In the XNUMXs, these ideas were put forward by some para-political structures. It seems to me that serious statesmen more or less refrained from explaining these ideas. Today, it has been taken over by people who perform the most responsible jobs in state politics," Đukanović pointed out. .
Asked if Serbia gave up on Kosovo and turned to Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, he answered:
"I'm just confirming that we have a problem with that policy. You could say that at this stage it's obvious tactics by the key centers of big-state nationalism in the Western Balkans, probably warned by what happened in the early nineties. They're now trying a more sophisticated approach to the same plan, but we always have that problem from Chekhov's dramaturgical rule - the gun that hangs on the wall in the first act, necessarily in the last act and goes off. Playing with retrograde ideas, playing with ideas of redrawing borders in the Balkans, with ideas of suppressing the sovereignty of other countries and suppression of the identity of other peoples, cannot be ended in a peaceful way, regardless of the tactics of the author of that plan. I agree that at this moment we are witnessing a softer presentation of that idea. I believe that at this moment the authors of that plan were satisfied with some federal organization of key Serbian centers within that Serbian area, but there is no doubt that their ultimate goal is the unification of that Serbian area, thereby endangering other countries and endangering the identity of other peoples, starting with the Montenegrins," said Đukanović in Pressing on N1.
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