President of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) and member of the Parliament of Montenegro, Milan Knežević, said that the representative for the composition of the 44th Government, Milojko Spajić, has two options, according to the NGO Alfa Center.
One possibility, Knežević states, is for Spajić to respect the election result and form a government in which the coalition for the future of Montenegro (ZBCG) would also enter, or to return the mandate and form a concentration government that would organize early elections, or for Dritan Abazović to organize new elections, which would have to be held no later than three months from November 10.
He said this at the 16th Regional Euro-Atlantic Camp, REACT, which is organized by the NGO "ALFA Center" and is being held in Žabljak.
"Without the ambition to teach Spajić or anyone else - any exclusion of the ZBCG coalition on the grounds that the coalition is leading Montenegro into serious destabilization will create an unstable government, and we will be forced to be an 'aggressive' opposition that will criticize and do everything to that government, what would my Zećans say, let's get rid of the devil as soon as possible. However, how they run the government and what they are doing, it seems to me that we should just take the popcorn and watch how the devil is playing himself," said Knežević.
Asked if he would rather be in the shoes of the president of the country, Jakov Milatović, or the representative, Milojko Spajić, Knežević answered in his own style:
"The coup trial continues on October 3. I would not change for the position of Milatović and Spajić for the defendant's bench for a single minute. I would not like to be in Spajić's shoes, nor to wear his head".
He also looked critically at the Europe now 2 program, stressing that it is "an ingenious plan based on borrowing, selling everything we have and gross earnings without contributions".
Knežević explains that from 2020, the ZBCG coalition will not be able to enter the government with the fact that they did not want to give up their principles.
He pointed out that Dritan Abazović will be studied as a phenomenon at political science faculties - he has been the president of the Technical Government for almost two years, and "the way he behaves nonchalantly" will probably continue.
"Because the one who got the mandate managed to get from 55 sure deputies to less than 41. And that's art. If he was engaged in the brokerage business like that, I don't know if any stock market remained intact", Knežević said.
According to him, as the influence of the embassies grows, so does the support for the mandate decrease, and the ZBCG coalition always demands only what belongs to them according to democratic principles and standards, based on the election results. They even agreed to less than that just to have a homogenous state unity and to reduce the divisions that Montenegro has had since the past.
"I have no intention of running away from Montenegro and I plan, as Zeta would say, to dig in here." I have no reserve countries, I want to have the best relations with the countries of the region, both with the East and the West. We accept and have no intention of reconsidering Montenegro's membership in NATO, nor Montenegrin independence. But we cannot accept double standards when it comes to our coalition and the Serbian people - and that our voice is valued twice as much as the others. I want this country to get a stable government and to start resolving chapters 23 and 24," said Knežević.
When asked whether the influence of the church brought bad things to the Democratic Front (DF) and whether Montenegro needs secularism, the president of the DNP said that it caused the most damage to Zdravko Krivokapić, because "he received a fresco, which was painted over overnight".
"In 2019, at the party congress, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) brought a platform on the formation of a party church and pushed the SPC into the political arena, which was forced to participate in that political game and was looking for allies. She found them in DF. It was not the first time that the church got involved - in 1997, the metropolitan supported Đukanović and invited him to Cetinje to preside over Christmas celebrations, even though he is an atheist. And then the church was involved. I think that Montenegro is a secular country and that religious organizations should be free from the influence of politics, but also that politics should be free from the influence of the church. I do not differentiate between Orthodox Serbs and Montenegrins, they should reconcile, but not at the expense of any minority. "Montenegro should be the state of all its citizens," said Knežević.
Also, according to him, Montenegro must get rid of the influence of embassies on the political scene, and, as he said, the "embassy syndrome" is especially pronounced after 2020.
"I thought the worst about Milo Đukanović and DPS, in the political sense. But at certain moments they knew how to show their backbone and oppose, unlike today," Knežević believes.
Answering the question whether, in addition to the influence of the embassies, he is also bothered by the direct and indirect interference of Aleksandar Vučić, Knežević asked "if Vučić is so all-powerful and we are his most loyal soldiers", why should he not be a part of the Government from 2020 - at least some minister without portfolio.
He believes that Đukanović's "attack on the church" was the trigger for his downfall, but also that the "fatigue of the political material in the DPS" contributed to it.
"The paradox is that the construction tycoons who helped Đukanović are now helping the Europe Now (PES) movement and are now in PES and we are negotiating with them. It seems like it's a maze here - the same people just changed their political jerseys and are always angry with us".
Speaking about his political struggle, he recalled that the Democratic Front began its extra-institutional struggle in 2015, that the transitional government in 2016, in which everyone was except the DF, had the task of preparing elections, and instead "prepared a coup ". He also touched on his four-month imprisonment, parliamentary life of 15 days, parliamentary activity "with a nanoleg".
"We wanted a large coalition in 2020 to defeat the DPS and to find a non-party figure. And we found her without even seeing her, Zdravka Krivokapica. "The priests brought him by the hand and suggested that he be the bearer of the list," said Knežević and added that Krivokapić campaigned by visiting every church, kissing the hand of every priest, nun, even a pilgrim and saying that he was 100 percent Serb.
Knežević, in a recognizable manner, pointed out that as soon as Krivokapić "learned how to report to the ambassadors", he forgot to report to them and explained to them that "he won the victory himself, and that we were only extras".
"A narrative began to be created that the Government we would be in would not be European, Euro-Atlantic, civilizational and that it is best for our young people who left Montenegro 15 years ago and whose families predominantly voted for DPS to come. So, on October 30, under pressure, we formed a government from the people we found on the Facebook page 'Ours in the world,'" said Knežević, noting that the ministers who were in Krivokapić's government were presented as experts with salaries as if they were playing in Real Madrid and who came to work for 1.200 euros because they love Montenegro and because nowhere is the sky as blue as over Montenegro.
"That's how the Government was created according to the principle of Christ, namely Zdravko, and 12 apostles, and in the end we found that Dritan Juda, who after a year with DPS replaced 'our Christ' and created a Government that lasted three months, and in the technical the term looks like it will last four years", said the DNP president.
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