Vukotić Jelušić: The Montenegrin coast, the sanctuary of Buraz capitalism

Morsko dobro went from being the owner of the most valuable economic resource, formed for the purpose of integral management of the coast, to becoming a usurper of public goods and a mediator in the implementation of the clientelistic policy of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), said the vice-president of the Budva committee of the Citizens' Movement URA Milijana Vukotić Jelušić on the occasion of the sale of the Morsko dobro coast.

As she pointed out, for years the Montenegrin coast has served the political elite and their sons, fake investors and criminal structures for enrichment, distribution of loot and rewards for political support.

"Years ago, piece by piece, the coast was devastated, was exposed to wild construction and alienated from its real owners - the citizens of Montenegro. From Kostanjica, Verig, via Sveti Nikola, Miločer, Velika plaža and Valdanos, wild, temporary buildings sprung up, the most beautiful sandy beaches were concreted, fenced and closed public spaces," said Vukotić Jelušić.

According to the vice-president of the Budva board of URE, the tenders for the lease of Montenegrin beaches became a ring for the fight of the cruelest bidders, ready to deal with anyone who tries to apply or dares to become a tenant.

"Just as there was no civil force to defend the holy place of the Montenegrin economy - its coast, so over time there were fewer and fewer citizens ready to oppose "unfair competition" in the form of powerful sons and criminal groups, with whom the very entry into the race foreshadowed existential and material collapse. With the decline of one power, Morsko dobo became a signatory to the contract that turns Montenegrin citizens into foreigners on their own coast. And while once the five-year lease of part of the coast caused a gap, now multi-decade contracts with which they "attack" the remaining valuable locations", stated Vukotić Jelušić.

She noted that such Maritime Assets have always had the systemic support of MORT.

"Both through procrastination with the creation of the Spatial Plan and the General Regulation Plan, as well as through the engagement of those eligible for the creation of the Spatial Plan, which should integrate the existing, valid and devastating Plan for the Coastal Area, but also foresee the takeover of the remaining spatial, and thus coastal, resources of Montenegro with the skillful hand of the henchman," she points out.

Vukotić Jelušić believes that the citizens were not particularly surprised by the announcement that only in the period from September to November last year, nine out of 30 long-term investment contracts concluded in the last 12 years between Morski Dobr and legal entities were signed.

"Some parts of the coast will be managed until 2050, with minimal investments and low rental prices per square meter. During that time, citizens are entertained by identity divisions and the issue of church property, and in the shadow of such "entertainment" worldly property is slowly being taken over. One would almost think that the whole mess with the Law on Freedom of Religion was supposed to serve as a curtain behind which powerful hands divide the country's economy," Vukotić Jelušić points out.

Citizens, he claims, were not surprised by the speed or skill of hardened public officials to conclude such contracts in a short period of time.

"Again, the willingness to pledge one's own integrity for the sake of political obligation and in the last convulsions of the government steals the inheritance and bread from the hands of its compatriots is a surprise. That, it seems, is the price of patriotism that should be paid by the deeply divided, impoverished and humiliated citizens of Montenegro, a country whose resources have been stolen, sold off or destroyed, a country disenfranchised and unequal".

He points out that the new Government has the obligation to investigate i prosecutes any abuse of position and excess of authority in these actions, and that intimidation with high compensation claims cannot erase irregularities and unscrupulous attitude towards the public good entrusted to management.

"In the end, citizens will fight for free access to our coast and for our future not to become a fenced sea and coast," concludes Vukotić Jelušić in the announcement.