Two years after the electoral removal of the three-decade-old government of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), nothing serious has been systematically done in Montenegro. Old problems have not been solved, new ones are constantly being produced, so it is clear that the political elites who triumphed in the elections wasted enormous social energy.
This is how the interlocutors of "Vijesti" look at the overall situation in the country after August 30, 2020, when Montenegro changed its government in elections for the first time in its history.
The key reason for this was the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion, which caused several months of protests by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) throughout the country, and on that wave citizens punished the party in the elections. Milo Đukanović, which continuously governed Montenegro for thirty-one years...
He led the first government in the new political era Zdravko Krivokapic, and she was chosen, under the name "eskpertska", after long negotiations, by the coalitions "For the Future of Montenegro" (ZBCG), "Mir je naša nacija" and "Crno na bijelo" (CnB). However, due to disagreements between the constituents, it lasted only one year and two months.
He created the second executive branch at the beginning of the year, with the minority support of DPS in the parliament. Dritan Abazovic, but it was even shorter-lived - it was demolished last week in the Parliament after only 113 days of work.
The collapse of both governments also had to do with the church question. Relations within Krivokapićeva were irreparably damaged after the enthronement of the Metropolitan of Montenegrin Joanikia in Cetinje in September of last year, while the reason for initiating the replacement of Abazović's cabinet was the recent signing of the Basic Agreement between the Government and the SPC.
The impression is that the downfall of the government was also caused by the pronounced vanity of the leaders who overthrew the DPS on August 30, which was an obstacle to political stability in the country.
And while Krivokapić claims that his Government will be remembered as one of the "most successful in the history of Montenegro", and Abazović that almost all the political priorities he advocated have been achieved, "Vijesti" interlocutors assess that there were no significant results.
Compared to the time of DPS rule, progress has been made - record seizures of drugs and cigarettes, arrests of former and current leaders and officials of the judiciary and police, high-ranking members of criminal clans, abuses of the former government in ministries and the largest state-owned enterprises have been revealed.
However, for "real" results on that front, it will be necessary to wait for the epilogues of the court proceedings.
Since August 30, there have been changes in the economic and social field, but the public and the parties are divided on this issue. While some welcome the return of child benefit, mothers' benefits and increases in salaries and pensions, others criticize it, arguing that these decisions have led to rising prices and endangering the financial stability of the state.
With the fall of DPS, honey and milk will not flow
Civic activist Dina Bajramspahić he says that no one was so vain as to think that honey and milk would flow with the fall of the DPS, but adds that what followed after the change of government was much worse than even the most skeptical expected.
He assesses that old problems have not been solved, that new ones are constantly being produced, and that enormous social energy has been wasted, which the political elites did not know how to channel.
"The new government is mostly what it was when it was in the opposition: disoriented, self-absorbed, with a serious lack of democratic capacity, forever blaming others for its mistakes. It was shown in its entirety that when the former opposition advocated changes, it actually only wished to be in the "exalted" position of the DPS, from which infinite arbitrariness can be exercised... When they spoke of "European standards", "government rights', 'respect for the Constitution and the law', 'non-selectiveness' - they did not mean it seriously, nor do they think of building a system in which everyone's power will be limited. They would be intoxicated with power almost instantly when they sat down in the armchair, and from that moment they only worked to accumulate it and grab it from others, even if they were party comrades", she points out for "Vijesti".
Editor-in-chief of the weekly "Monitor" Esad Kocan, says that the two years since August 30 are mostly a missed opportunity, that essentially nothing serious has been done, but that does not mean that it is bad that the DPS lost power.
He claims that if Đukanović's party had stayed in power a little longer, those who would come after it would have been "even worse".
"That's the logic of long authoritarian regimes - they poison the whole system, and then the alternative can be even worse. So it was high time they lost power. However, a bad government did not become a good opposition, and a bad opposition did not become a good government. And so it is. The political class has shown that it is of very similar quality in terms of structure, and that the only difference is their omens... It is the fault of the political class, those who led the processes, who had the majority and the support of Europe, that they did not do what was expected. They should be held accountable - all together and individually", said Kočan to "Vijesta".
Both governments promised the fight against crime and corruption, depoliticization and professionalization of institutions, increasing the transparency of work... but the impression of part of the public is that they were more concerned with the implementation of bad practices from the time of the DPS rule, continuing with the party's "capture" of institutions and by making important decisions behind the scenes, contrary to the Constitution and laws.
Negotiations on the formed government are still followed by the inter-party division of functions "by depth", so key positions in system institutions and state-owned companies remain in the hands of party "soldiers" without references or with dubious biographies.
Greedy party structures
Bajramspahić says that it turned out that the entire political elite has a tacit understanding that the one who wins power, or at least some institution, has the freedom to "satisfy" his unlimited party appetites, "and for the rest - whatever happens".
He states that in Prague we see that the social fabric in all political circles is similar, if not more so.
"I mean ready for clientelism, complicity in unethical practices, with a lack of integrity, quality, knowledge, specialization, preoccupation, capacity for teamwork and building social cohesion instead of further breaking society. Governments and administrations are already being replaced as if on a tape, and no new forces are emerging that qualitatively offer something new... After two years, all that remains are disappointed citizens who no longer have anything to hope for, and party members of all colors who are waiting for their turn. ", explains the interlocutor.
Kocan says that the new government had to be different "in depth", and that it is unacceptable for the "gluttony" of the party structures to rule.
"From some kind of expert government, we have come to a partitocratic one, in which there are tough fights for power, in which the party armies are employed according to official positions, because there is no social criterion...", he underlines.
Kočan also blames the new authorities for not having the capacity to force Đukanović to step down as party leader. He says that, by giving the DPS a chance to support the minority government, "the situation is normalized", and that the party is now "controlling losses".
"I would like to tell optimistic stories, but today is the time for harshly realistic stories..."
There is no progress in the negotiations
Although both Krivokapić's and Abazović's governments have apostrophized entry into the European Union (EU) as a key political priority, the state has not made any progress on that front. Moreover, in the last report of the European Commission (EC), which was presented in October last year, during the mandate of the Krivokapić cabinet, Montenegro recorded the worst result in the area of the rule of law in the previous few years.
Fearful that we should expect new "packs", reinforces the statement of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ranka Krivokapića, who, referring to internal documents from Brussels, said that due to the signing of the Basic Agreement, the draft of the new EC report will be "quite negative".
Recalling that the state opened the last chapter two years ago, and closed the last one five years ago, Bajramspahić says that at this pace, the end of the negotiations is not in sight.
"No one apologized to the citizens that two years passed in senseless administrative changes, during which the new staff did not even understand what exactly they were supposed to do. I absolutely claim that European obligations were not a priority for state bodies throughout the administration, and they spent more energy resenting and grumbling against EU expectations than implementing tasks that they cannot avoid," she states.
Until the new EC report, the unfolding of the political crisis should be clearer. After the overthrow of Abazović's government, no party has yet secured a majority to form a new cabinet, and there are currently no conditions for extraordinary elections.
When DPS is desired...
Kočan assesses that instead of forming the outgoing government, an effort should have been made to create a "concentration government". He states that all the actors played wrong roles, instead of rallying around the idea of such an executive power.
"The depth of the crisis we are entering called for such a solution, seriousness and responsibility. However, a minority government was formed. That's why, when you look at the political scene now, you don't have the feeling that things are in safe hands - everyone with everyone, everyone against everyone. We have a ferocious pre-election campaign, and we don't even have a concept of how to call elections yet."
Bajramspahić says that the new authorities should ask themselves why DPS is still an acceptable partner to the West.
"When the international community goes so far as to publicly announce that the DPS is acceptable to them, parts of the new government mindlessly 'pray' to the international community, instead of looking in the mirror and asking how the work of the previous two governments was evaluated when the DPS is again a desirable partner. Chronic irresponsibility and inability to self-reflect are at the heart of the problem of new political actors".
Bajramspahić: We are the problems we used to call - "DPS"
Bajramspahić says that there is no magic wand that would solve all the problems in the country in a second, but he adds that no one forced the new political elites to appoint controversial personnel, establish new unprofitable public companies, make populist promises to citizens...
"Many of the problems we used to call 'DPS' are actually all of us together, as a community. It was now crystal clear and it is very unpleasant to face that ugly picture of us. Greed, avarice, being buried in trenches, 'cheering', uncritical attitude towards 'their own' no matter what they do, narrow-mindedness, trying to grab as much as possible in the shortest possible time came to the fore. And worst of all, they constantly try to justify all that behavior with very humiliating explanations that offend common sense".
Kočan: Stratification within the Serbian corps started, but stopped
Kočan says that after August 30, a long-term important process for the country should have followed, but that it was stopped.
"After the election, there should have been - and it had already started and there were signs of it - a stratification within the Serbian corps. This is very significant, because even after the independence of Montenegro, there was a greater stratification within the Montenegrin movement. There were indications of this stratification between those people who are Serbs and for whom Montenegro is the center of the political and social world, and those who consider (Aleksander) Vučić - or anyone else in power in Belgrade - some kind of secular or spiritual patriarch of Serbia. This process is very important for Montenegro in the long term. Unfortunately, it was stopped, and we are once again in identity overrides".
The winners do not give up on August 30, but they go their own way
Member of the Democratic Front (DF), the largest constituent of the ZBCG coalition, Jovan Vučurović, told "Vijesta" that August 30 remains "a date for the history of Montenegro".
"But I am afraid that a part of political and social subjects in general still does not understand its importance. What we were obliged to do, and what all other states that were freeing themselves from their dictatorships, was to dismantle the totalitarian system and reform the captured institutions. Without a doubt, if the DF had been able to make a decision, the results would have been visible in a short period of time, and the criminal regime of Đukanović and him personally, the hand of justice would have arrived a long time ago..."
He says that it is not too late for the political situation to "return to normal and to start respecting what happened on August 30".
"We owe it to the citizens to at least try to come to an agreement in the name of that date and start the process of forming a government according to all democratic rules... It is time for the DF and Andrija Mandić to lead the future government".
The general secretary of the Civil Movement (GP) URA, the entity that led the CnB coalition, Mileta Radovanić, told the newspaper that the biggest benefit on August 30 was "that the wheel of democracy finally started."
"After the elections, we see that a strong fight against crime and corruption has begun. GP URA, headed by President Abazović, made a huge contribution to this. We have come to grips with that problem, and that is exactly how we will restore citizens' trust in the institutions of the system and return the money that was illegally acquired".
The MP of the Democrats, which together with Demos formed the "Peace is our Nation" coalition, Boris Bogdanović, told "Vijesta" that his party, since the removal of the DPS government, "returned child allowances, provided free textbooks for all primary school students, returned allowances to mothers, increased the minimum pension, increased old-age benefits, increased the average and other earnings, introduced Njegoš Day as a national holiday, proposed and voted on the Resolution on the genocide in Piva and Velica, provided an independent and impartial Prosecutor's Council".
Asked if the Democrats feel responsible for the fact that a lot of what was promised was not fulfilled and that a lot of time was spent on conflicts between the parties, Bogdanović answered in the negative.
"The Democrats NSD (New Serbian Democracy) and GP URA did not allow them to participate in the executive power, but with their coordinated action they took over all the levers of power... It was not the Democrats who overthrew the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić, but the URA-SNP-NSD".
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