Minority Government Dritan Abazović in 100 days, she showed her readiness to adopt anti-crisis measures through the reduction of duties and provided undoubted political support to the work of the prosecution, but she did not fulfill the goals for which she was created, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" assessed.
They point out, however, that the Government did not carry out any large-scale reform measures and instead showed an inscrutable partitocracy, spending considerable time on controversial organizations and personnel changes.
The minority government was elected on April 28, and it consists of the URA Civic Movement, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Socialist People's Party (SNP), CIVIS and parties of minority nations. Parliamentary support to the Government, without participating in it, was provided by the DPS until the prime minister signed a basic contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), when he, together with the SDP, the SD, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Albanians (DUA), submitted an initiative to the Assembly for a vote of no confidence in the Government.
Yesterday, at the press conference on the occasion of the 100 days of his cabinet's work, the Prime Minister announced that all the political priorities of the 43rd Government had been completed during that period or were about to end.
Public policy researcher at the Institute of Alternatives Milena Muk she assessed that the first projected goal, that the Government will last in this composition at least until the presidential elections, was not achieved, which calls into question the achievement of all other goals and the sustainability of the previous moves.
"Although it was proclaimed as a government of reconciliation, it is more than obvious that it did not happen. After all, something like that was hard to expect, since there are small parties in the government with limited support among the electorate," said Muk for "Vijesti".
Civic activist Stefan Djukic he assessed that not much was seen in the first 100 days of the minority government, "but what could be expected was achieved".
"The government that did not come from the will of the election, whose constituents do not share a good part of values, nor do they have common goals, seemed to be scattered, uncoordinated, executed in almost everything. It should be understood that the moment in which they came to the decision-making position was inconvenient and difficult, but they themselves were looking for the ball in their own field, so they have no right to lament the circumstances", Đukić assessed.
He emphasized that the readiness to adopt anti-crisis measures through the reduction of duties, the undoubted political support for the work of the prosecutor's office "which could lead to the return of trust in the prosecutorial and judicial system and greater transparency through broadcasts of government sessions" must be counted among the positive aspects.
Muk pointed out that, as the IA had warned, this government spent considerable time on reorganizations and changes, "which are highly controversial and contrary to all standards of good management".
"Everything, even if they were the best, would have a negative impact on efficiency in such a short time, and every day we witness the return of controversial managers, the most recent example of which is the appointment Alije Košute for the President of the Management Board of the PIO Fund".
Muk emphasized that the appointment of a person convicted of committing criminal offenses as inspector general of the National Security Agency (ANB) also sent an extremely bad message, especially when it comes to the overall reform of the security sector, one of the pillars of which should be this inspector. The government recently appointed a lawyer Artan Kurti for the chief inspector of the ANB, although, as shown by the data he provided in the constitutional appeal requesting the deletion of the convictions from the criminal record, he was sentenced to ten months in juvenile prison as a juvenile and to a single sentence of ten months in prison as an adult.
And Đukić cites the worst aspect of the government as its insufferable partyocracy, reckless hiring of party cadres without experience and qualifications, many of whom, as he assessed, have been proven to be bad managers, bad workers, and the worst among them have even been prosecuted for serious crimes.
"In addition, the goals for which the government was supposedly formed - the election of the Judicial Council, the supreme state prosecutor, the filling of the Constitutional Court do not seem achievable. With all that, the unconstitutional postponement of local elections is one of the most dangerous precedents ever recorded in our parliament. It seems that the Government created on the basis of the abuse of the electoral will simply cannot function, and there are two ways ahead of us - its transformation or new elections. I think we are closer to this first one," Đukić emphasized.
Muk assessed that at the level of public policies, not a single major reform intervention was seen - from the so-called law on the origin of property, which is still pending, to the amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information, which the new government even withdrew from the parliamentary procedure with the explanation that improvements are needed, but not what kind.
Yesterday, Abazović, commenting on the issue of public administration reform, stated that the goal is for citizens to have electronic services, 1 of them, from January 2024, 13, which will enable them to complete their obligations without going to the counters.
Emphasizing that the only minor progress in this sense was the work on the Law on Government, Muk said that although the established draft is not bad, the lack of interdepartmental coordination in the phase before the draft calls into question the passability of some positive solutions.
"In the first place, restrictions during the technical mandate and setting an upper limit for the number of ministries in order to stand in the way of spontaneous reorganizations. Because of this, it is certain that we will wait for the next technical mandate and the new government with the old practices of shifting responsibilities between the old and the new and looking for excuses for the lack of results in administrative adjustments," said Muk.
Abazović stated that the first priority from the exposé of the 43rd Government was the continuation of the uncompromising fight against organized crime and corruption, then the renewal and adjustment of the negotiation structure, the creation of a favorable environment for new investments, the continuation of the economic reforms that had begun, the regulation of contractual relations with religious communities, the review of regional initiative, strengthening of local governments, preparation and implementation of the summer tourist season...
"Continuation of the fight against corruption and crime - in 100 days you have tectonic disturbances in a positive sense. You have the largest seizure of cigarettes in Europe. You have proceedings against the former President of the Supreme Court (Vesne Medenica) and the President of the Commercial Court (Blaž) Jovanić, cases (Petra) Lazović and (Lyuba) Milović, people in business companies were arrested... We created an environment where the Prosecution in tandem (Maja) Jovanovic - (Vladimir) Novović achieve results", said Abazović.
He stated that great dynamics have been achieved in changing the negotiation structure, that new investments have arrived, that the tourist season is "going well", as well as that the construction of a clinic in Podgorica has started and that such investments are planned in Berane, Cetinje, Risno. He pointed out that regional cooperation is at the highest possible level and that the banking sector has never been more liquid.
He reminded that on Wednesday the relationship with one religious community was regulated, i.e. that the Fundamental Agreement between the Government and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) was signed.
"We are ready to do it with the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC). There is no restriction on us moving towards those activities," said the Prime Minister.
"The government does not block the European path, but clears things up"
The Prime Minister also said that Montenegro needs to catch the train to get the final benchmarks in negotiations with the EU by the end of the year.
"Anyone who pushes us into destabilization does not want Montenegro to receive the final criteria. The government is not blocking the European way, but is clearing things up to make it the only way. There is no restriction to improve it now. The Assembly will have the full support of the Government to elect the heads of the judiciary. Let's go above the figure of 54 deputies. It will be interesting to see if some structures will oppose it".
"Party employment is the worst face of the Government"
Former Minister of Economic Development and one of the leaders of the Europe Now Movement, Jakov Milatović wrote on Twitter that in addition to the demonstrated ignorance and lack of understanding in many areas, primarily economic, perhaps the worst face of the current government is the continuation of "shameless party recruitment, often prominent DPS personnel - recognized by the public for abuse of position in the earlier period".
He cited, among others, the example of Alija Košuta, who held several public functions, and attracted the public's attention in 2019 when, as the director of the Directorate for Inspection Affairs, he received a housing loan of 40.000 euros from the state, despite the fact that he reported three apartment and two houses.
Milatović reminded that Zoran Đurišić, Nataša Pešić, Vladan Vučelić, Damir Davidović were also returned to the state administration...
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