A year of awareness or self-delusion

When Montenegro became an independent state on May 21, 2006, Jakov Milatovic was a student and was just under 20 years old. This May 21, Milatović is the president of the country, after taking the oath the day before and assuming that office from Milo Đukanović, whom many consider a symbol and a man responsible for restoring independence to Montenegro.

In the 2006 referendum, 55,5 percent of citizens voted for independence. The decision was made by only 0,5 percent of the votes, because the Law on Referendum (which was agreed upon with the recommendation of the EU) required at least 55 percent of voters.

Now, 17 years after the referendum, an era marked by Đukanović and his Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) is coming to an end, as both the party and its undisputed leader have gone into opposition.

And while the years after Đukanović came to power were associated with the strengthening of links between organized crime and parts of the top government and the security sector, the period after 2020 - when the DPS lost the parliamentary elections - was marked by the arrest of high-ranking judges, police officers, and even government officials , but also by violating the Constitution under the direction of the new authorities.

If the first can be seen as attempts to break the nexus of government and crime/corruption, losing confidence in the Constitution and interpreting it as necessary - is a serious problem for a country that is pleading to be the next member of the EU.

That's why Milatović immediately faces a challenge after entering the President's building - whether he will sign the laws passed by the dissolved Parliament and some of them proposed by the Government, which lost its legitimacy in August last year.

It could be the first signal of the new head of state's attitude towards the decisions of the new parliamentary majority, which should be formed after the elections scheduled for June 11. Will the collapse of institutions and the Constitution continue?

There were examples of the former for the mandate of the DPS, but such cases have escalated in recent months. Some of them are the dismissal of the ministers of the government which was voted no-confidence, the attempt to reconstruct it, the suspension of the authority of the president to nominate a representative, the attempt to postpone the election by making a decision not to recognize the decree of the president, the illegal dismissal of the director of the Police Directorate, the appointment of a new director in violation of the position of the Assembly, the appointment of a convicted person for of the inspector general of the National Security Agency (ANB), the change in the status of Zeta after the announcement of local elections...

Although some of these things are benign compared to the illegalities of the former director of ANB Dejan Peruničić, president of the Supreme Vesne Medenica and the Commercial Court Blaž Jovanić, the transfer of state wealth to controversial tycoons, the emergence of evidence of corruption and the connection of police officers and prosecutors with criminal groups..., they represent the collapse of the legal order of the state and its institutions.

Some new kids

In addition to the dispossession of Đukanović, what marked the 17th year of independence was certainly a "political earthquake". After he left the party leadership after the defeat in the presidential elections, a long-time deputy of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) followed in his footsteps for the same reasons. Draginja Vuksanović Stanković. Then the leader of that party Rasko Konjević, then deputy and member of the Presidency of the Democratic Front (DF) Predrag Bulatović. They did not publicly explain the reasons for their departure.

Konjević was in politics for 15 years - Minister of Police, Finance, Deputy Prime Minister, MP... Bulatović for much longer - he was the leader of the Unionist bloc, the leader of the Socialist People's Party, a long-time member of the DF, head of the parliamentary group of the unified DPS... .

Around the time he retired, the DF also ceased to exist, because one of the constituents of that alliance, the Movement for Change (PzP), was dissatisfied with its status on the list for the upcoming elections.

There was also a wave in the SNP, whose individual high-ranking officials and some ministers will not be on the electoral list. After several splits, those who know the chances of the once strong SNP predict that this time it will remain below the line in the elections.

Commenting on the departure of politicians who created social and political life since independence, and whether this is a consequence of the strengthening of the Europe Now Movement (PES), which offered citizens economic topics, the general secretary of the SDP Ivan Vujović says citizens want change.

"We heard them loud and clear. Our president, completely clean, politically in his prime, decided to let others and younger people get ahead of him, and that best says how much we in the SDP listen to the voice of the citizens we want to represent," he told "Vijesti".

Vujović says that "Montenegro is our house, it has been for centuries, but if we want to preserve it, then we have to deal more strongly with how that house looks from the inside".

"The foundations have been eroded by corruption, nepotism, hopelessness, a large number of disenfranchised, from those who swore to Montenegro and those 'new' who even advanced all these bad practices. The story of choosing the lesser evil is no longer valid, and the past elections showed that in the end. Also, we must not pretend that we do not see many regressive phenomena and processes in society that threaten to threaten the civil and secular character of the state, for which there are as many examples as you like. The problems of our society are multiple and it is irresponsible to reduce them to only one set of topics. We must have a holistic view of things because if we threaten the fundamental values ​​of civil society and return to the ideological paradigm of the 90s, all other problems will be much more pronounced," he believes.

On the same topic, the former vice-president of the Assembly and leader of the former People's Party Predrag Popovic, who was in the "Yugoslav block" with Bulatović in 2006, says that resignations and departures are pouring in primarily because of "material fatigue".

"Natural change of generations. I remember how much pressure, at one time, they exerted on us, these same people, who now, by force of circumstances, are slowly withdrawing from the scene. We, already experienced politicians at the time, were told that it was 'time for new faces'. At that time, we were almost 20 years younger than they are today. Now they say that there is no good policy 'without gray heads'", says the interlocutor, who is now retired.

What we were afraid of, what we got

In the pre-referendum campaign, the officials of the block in which Popović was a member, as an argument against the independence of Montenegro, expressed the fear that it would turn into a private state of Đukanović. After independence, they claimed that they were right because the Đukanović family during the time of the DPS government had privileges in getting jobs, some of them made money at the expense of the state, the clique close to the political top was enabled to get rich...

Political loyalty was bought with apartments and other privileges, corruption, abuses, godfather arrangements were turned a blind eye - all that has surfaced these months and clutters the desks of the Special State Prosecutor's Office.

A free individual, a free people, respect for human rights, a free market, government at the service of citizens... The goals that were once proclaimed by the Liberal Union of Montenegro, the first party for independence, have not been realized even though it is one - the one-party dictatorship has fallen.

When asked what has changed for the better in 17 years, Predrag Popović says that he does not see anything positive that has happened as a direct consequence of the change in state-legal status.

"Everything positive that happened, which, in my opinion, is almost exclusively related to the period after the overthrow of the former regime, clearly indicates that the struggle for complete independence was only a mantra for the creation of the so-called private states. It is enough to look at who all created enormous capital during that time, and the answer is self-evident. With very rare exceptions," says Popović.

Ivan Vujović, however, sees progress:

"Great achievements after independence are the adoption of the Civil Constitution, the European path and membership in NATO. We finished big things and I am proud of the huge role of the SDP in that. Now it's time to decorate our house. Those who have a spare house cannot do that, as well as those who would like to take things from our common house. New challenges await us, we are ready to provide our full contribution to solving them in the time ahead".

Apartments and salaries instead of "fear of Serbia"

Corruption and enrichment of the DPS elite, which were not seen by judicial and anti-corruption authorities, have been masked in election campaigns for years with stories about the need to preserve state independence. The target of criticism was mainly neighboring Serbia and politicians who closely cooperated with its authorities.

Commenting on the fact that these kinds of messages have been heard less and less recently, Popović says that this mantra was spent "when the main ideologues of that hysteria lost the elections".

"Serbia and Montenegro were, are and will be fraternal states, regardless of the mutual relations of the ruling groups in them. Here, however, it is shown that the people have collectively matured, and that they no longer fall prey, at least not to the extent, to deceptions about vulnerability. That is why the change from August 30, 2020, as well as the more than convincing victory of the former opposition in the local elections, was healing for everyone. With the exception of some ephemeral political groups and individuals, no one is serious about this topic anymore", says the interlocutor.

Popović, however, warns that one should also be very reserved about promises that concern exclusively economic topics:

"We had a bitter experience with those experiments in the near future - G17+ in Serbia and PzP in our country are glaring examples. That kind of economic populism is also very dangerous. Both the national one and the economic one primarily serve to win over voters. When they enter the parliament, they usually follow a different course than promised".

Vujović thinks, as he states, that people have had enough of big words and are interested in actions and real change.

"They are interested in salary, apartment, kindergarten, home for the elderly. If a woman in childbirth has to think about whether she has money for anesthesia, if your friends can't get you a job if they don't have a relationship, if you're a single parent and you can't get alimony... if that's the case, then citizens, no matter how accurate everything is, in that at the moment secondary. On the other hand, responsible politicians must see foreign interference in our internal affairs, which, after all, is clearly stated by the European institutions. We must strengthen our house in all segments in order to be resistant to well-known external influences".

About the change of state symbols

In part of the so-called sovereignist bloc, there is still speculation today about the possibility that a new government could change state symbols.

"Among those who emerged from August 30, 2020, there are definitely those who would really like something like that, and that is part of their political ideology. If someone were so adventurous as to challenge the foundations of the Constitution, we would certainly not be silent and sit idly by... Time for a new patriotism and a focus on the quality of life, but we must not ignore the fact that there are a large number of those who would drag us into the past and instead of a European future, they lead to a civilizational detour", says Ivan Vujović.

However, Popović does not see anything controversial in this, but says that it can lead to disagreements and conflicts, which are unnecessary:

"... These symbols were imposed by force, and they cause many misunderstandings and quarrels to this day. As much an anthem as a flag. Not to mention the language. Why not engage in an open and honest discussion about changing or altering those symbols, if that would lead to a de-escalation of tensions. Is the shortening of the text of the anthem, which was undoubtedly written by the war criminal Sekula Drljević in several stanzas, a problem!? Isn't it blasphemous that the traditional tricolor, which was the official flag in Montenegro back in the days of King Nikola, was declared an 'occupation symbol'! Why shouldn't it be, say, a presidential or a national flag, so that, in addition to the current one, it stands out on all occasions!? And, there's peace for everyone. Nothing can be done by force without causing major disagreements, even conflicts, and we don't need that."

Bosniak: We must not come of age divided like this

Vice President of the Assembly and official of the Movement for Change Branka Bosniak she said that after 17 years, the divisions are even more pronounced.

"So disunited, we must not wait for the restoration of independence to come of age. The defeated regime ruled on those divisions and brutally manipulated the citizens' national feelings. The new President and the future Government must do everything to integrate both those who said YES and those who said NO in the referendum and that all of us who live in Montenegro feel it as our country with every inch of our being. Montenegro must be the country of all of us, regardless of our particularities. Our wealth should be our strength and not a stumbling block," she told "Vijesti".

Only united can we build stable and strong institutions, she adds, and get the country out of the clutches of corruption and crime.

"Only united can we start the economic and moral revival of the country.