The crisis deepens, there is no winner

After the events in Cetinje, no one can take the title of winner for now, while the entire community can be considered the losers, as well as the young forces of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) who missed another opportunity to free themselves from the ballast of their leader. Milo Đukanović and make a turn from which everyone in Montenegro would benefit.

This was assessed by the interlocutors of "Vijesti", noting that after the events in Cetinje, the crisis of the government deepened and the path of polarization of society continued.

Metropolitan Joannikius he was enthroned on September 5 in the Cetinje Monastery, with the deployment of strong police forces due to protests in which around 60 people were injured. The religious act was performed after Joanikije and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Porfirije were transported by helicopter from Podgorica, due to road blockades. The two entered the monastery accompanied by members of the Anti-Terrorism Unit of the police, armed with long pipes...

One of the founders of the "Code" organization, analyst and former member of parliament Srdjan Peric, assessed that all subjects with relevant influence in society, without exception, showed irresponsibility and "far from anyone giving their maximum so that we are not on the verge of splitting the community".

"No one can be considered a winner, and as a community we experienced a great defeat. In just a few weeks, we essentially went back three decades," Perić told "Vijesti".

Analyst and journalist Željko Pantelić he said that it seems to him that no one profited in the end:

"Although we are still in the fog of the latest events and it is not excluded that someone will emerge from this game as a winner in the end. These could, for example, be the forces advocating for a population census with identity issues, which, by the way, is the last thing Montenegro needs at this moment."

The Democratic Front (DF), which previously threatened to overthrow the government if the census is not held this year, insists on the census. The day after the enthronement in Cetinje, the leaders of that political alliance announced that they had been invited to a meeting with the prime minister the night before the enthronement. Zdravka Krivokapića, and that after he told them that a "coup d'état" was underway, they gave him political support. As a confirmation of the rapprochement of yesterday's rivals, Krivokapić and DF, it is speculated that the draft law on the census could be adopted at the next first session of the Government...

Perić assessed that in the political games that followed the events in Cetinje, it is certain that within the government itself the prime minister wants to show leadership and determination, "that we have new fights within the government and the latest media war between the two coalitions".

"On the other end, DPS is trying to take political advantage of citizens' emotions. When it seems to you that he is a loser in that situation, in just a few days the new government relativizes even that with its behavior. The overall impact on the community is devastating.”

Krivokapić intended to initiate the dismissal of the Minister of Internal Affairs Sergej Sekulović, because he refused to dismiss the police director Zoran Brđanin, and allegedly due to reluctance to carry out the action to secure the enthronement of the metropolitan in Cetinje. He gave up on that, for now, allegedly under pressure from representatives of the Quinte, which consists of the USA, Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy, who talked to Krivokapić in order to convince him to give up the shifts...

Sekulović confirmed in yesterday's interview with "Vijesta" that the prime minister asked for his and Brđanin's resignation on the night between September 4 and 5.

The Deputy Prime Minister strongly opposes the removal of Sekulović and Brđanin Dritan Abazovic, who said that he will bring down the Government, if the Prime Minister does not give up the initiation of the procedure for dismissing Sekulović.

"I have repeatedly told the prime minister, political actors, the public... that if the red line is crossed, and with this act and the reactions after everything from the police side ended successfully in Cetinje, they crossed that line, one more step forward and it is not impossible that we will have a new minister, but it is not impossible that we will also have a new prime minister. After that, I will overthrow the government, I will stop supporting the government if I think that they are doing something that is unjust," Abazović told "Vijesti" television on Thursday.

A day later, he softened his stance, telling Euronews Serbia that there is no reason to fear that the Government will be overthrown and that the ruling coalition will overcome this crisis as well...

Perić says that "unfortunately, there are no battles and fronts that would not be opened for the needs of political profit", and that exceptions are really rare.

"It seems that it is much easier to manage a deep division now, than to face oneself and one's mistakes, to start a dialogue, not to mention the economy. The one who would now mention the solution of, say, problems in health and education would certainly be perceived as a completely naive person, probably would also receive a label from some hardened party fighter that he works for the 'other side'. That's the point we're at now, and that's what we're all agreeing to at this point.”

Perić pointed out that the moment when the political conflict is moved again to the level of quarrels in the family, among neighbors, at work, when insults on social networks culminate, then one enters the zone of meaninglessness.

"We are living the consequences of the actions and inactions of the previous government, and the new government shows its inability to start a dialogue in the community and is unable or unwilling to deviate from the policies that brought us to the edge of functionality - starting with party employment, all the way to ideologizing reality in to which there is only 'party truth', and everything beyond it should be condemned and banished from public life."

It is necessary to remind that everything depends on the citizen and that only he can end this agony. It is clear that there is a long way to return power to the citizen, but if we want to be free individuals living in an elementary functional state, that road must be crossed," Perić said.

Pantelić assesses that the disagreements in the Government largely canceled the political capital that was within reach of the Prime Minister, his deputy and the Minister of the Interior, as well as the verbal confrontation between the URA and the Democrats:

"The leadership of the two civil and European parties should know that politics and tactics are sometimes more important than the truth or the satisfaction that you are right."

URA and the Democrats have been in conflict since URA leader Abazović accused the party Alekse Bečić to obstruct changes in the Prosecutor's Office...

Speaking about the losers of the events in Cetinje, Pantelić said that "the line of losers is long, even though everyone ran to present themselves as winners."

He pointed out that it is discouraging that political actors and "their media megaphones" have not learned anything from the lesson of last weekend and stubbornly continue on the path of polarizing society.

"In any case, the biggest losers are the young DPS forces who missed another opportunity to get rid of the ballast of Milo Đukanović and make a turn from which everyone in Montenegro would benefit, including themselves. "Montenegro has shown that it can survive without Đukanović, now it is legitimate to ask the question whether DPS can survive Đukanović," Pantelić said.

Pantelić: SPC should be more with the faithful and less with the government

Pantelić assessed that the SPC can become the biggest winner if it does one simple thing - "recognize the reality and explicitly accept the fact that there is a Montenegrin nation and adjust its actions to that reality."

"Since the SPC is a Christian church, and the only one recognized in our area by the Ecumenical Patriarchate and other canonical Orthodox churches, it should not even be interested in who declares what nationality and to enable all Christian believers, regardless of nationality, to be baptized , they marry, celebrate, confess and die as Christians, and it is their business whether they are Montenegrins, Serbs or some other nations."

Pantelić said that politicians think about the time until the next election, statesmen about the next generation, and spiritual leaders, if they are not politicians and politicians, think about centuries.

"If the MCP and SPC want to last another eight centuries, they must be inclusive, not exclusive, that is, Metropolitan Joanikije and Patriarch Porfirije must be more with their believers, and less with the government or those who would like to come to power. Metropolies and dioceses existed without states and nations, but they could not exist without believers."