Budva is facing the introduction of forced administration for the second time in the last two years, given that it is practically impossible for the Municipal Assembly to adopt a strategic plan for the development of the city within ten days - the deadline received from the Government.
In addition to the tourism metropolis development strategy, the local Assembly is obliged to temporarily remove from the work of the President of the Municipality, who has been detained, within the same period Milo Božović and appoints two of its vice-presidents.
"Vijesti" was told that the strategic development plan is in the form of a draft and that it has yet to be put up for public discussion, which by law lasts 15 days, and only then, when the final version is made, will it be submitted to the local parliament for adoption.
"There is also a representative of the Ministry of Public Administration in the Commission for the preparation of the strategic plan, who is aware that it is impossible for it to be adopted because the legal procedure must be followed," they told "Vijesta" from the Municipality.
All this is a kind of epilogue of failed election promises, but also of political struggles, instead of revival and development of the city.
The Democratic Front and the Democrats took power from the DPS in 2016, after investigators led Milivoj Katnić put handcuffs on the hands of the then municipal officials, members of the criminal group Svetozar Marović.
Criticized DPS, did the same
Every two years there was a change of government. The first, as agreed in the coalition agreement, after two years, was the then mayor Dragan Krapović (Democrats) handed over power to the NSD leader Marko Bata Carevic. The city has stabilized financially, but after the rotation in the seat of the leader, a "war" between the Democrats and the DF begins. Years of political instability followed, until today.
Turbulence culminates before the 2020 elections, when, once again, due to the wrong move of the DPS headquarters in Podgorica and the government of Duško Marković, the conflicting "oppositionists" unite. By changing the electoral will, in the summer of 2020, when an independent councilor, a fugitive PzP councilor Stevan Džaković gives support to the coalition gathered around DPS and Montenegro, DPS takes over power for a few months. The government sends police troops to Budva, and the DF and the Democrats get a political platform on which they win the elections. But the "buried axes" are soon unearthed, so the crisis culminates in April 2022, when the government introduces forced administration because the parliament has not been in session for more than six months. Commissioners are installed in the city, who appoint the mayor Milo Božović and thereby give him a kind of advantage in the local elections in October 2022 when his DF gets an absolute majority.
Today, the electoral program with 26 investment projects represents only nice promises.
Božović was arrested in mid-April last year, by order of the Special State Prosecutor's Office. Since then, he has been ruling from a prison cell, and the city is going through a difficult period.
His DF is divided into two conflicting factions, to the detriment of the citizens, because the Municipality is practically blocked, and its efficiency is at the lowest level.
For all eight years, the government did practically everything that DPS did, whose policy was harshly criticized from the opposition benches. Without a single capital investment, except for street paving, along with political, tribal, nepotistic and friendly employment and the accumulation of hundreds of workers in the Municipality and its enterprises...
Privileged investors and builders during the time of the DPS government were replaced by "another team". Privileged restaurateurs - also.
Instead of standing in the way of the concreting of Budva, which was promised, and introducing a moratorium on construction in the zone by the sea, over the past eight years dozens of solitaires have sprung up...
Numerous problems, from noise and usurpation of the contact zone of the Old Town, have not been solved...
Kažanegra Stanišić: Arrogance and greed collapsed the system
Democratic councilwoman Dragana Kazanegra Stanišić she assessed that the announced compulsory administration was the expected solution. "The rulers were so reckless and arrogant that they didn't even want an agreement among all parliamentary parties that would specify the date of the elections, appoint responsible persons who would govern until then and overcome, in good faith and with good intentions, the most important period of the year for our city. No, they wanted to humiliate Budva, once again persevering in mutual conflicts, accusations and fighting for bare and personal interests. Budva will rise even after this, like many times in its glorious history, shake the dust off its wings and fly to where it belongs, on the pedestal of the "Queen of the Mediterranean", and the culprits of this headlong fall and wallowing in the mud will be severely punished by the court of our citizens in the next elections. In recent history, the citizens of Budva have not been so deceived, betrayed and humiliated, and they have never shown greater trust. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, that's how our citizens wanted the promised prosperity, and they got Sponge, clans and a blockade of institutions..."
She assessed that we have been living the idea of absolute authority and power for the last 11 months.
"All arbitrariness and greed collapsed the system it built and burned it to ashes. The DPS regime needed 30 years, the ruling coalition less than two years. The film is the same, only the actors have changed".
Rađenović: The spirit of DPS is still walking
Leader of GP URA in Budva Blazo Radjenovic he pointed out that the government was formally changed in 2017, but that essentially the "spirit of the DPS" still runs through, as he pointed out, every sphere of management of what was once the richest and most attractive municipality:
"So today we have either streets with huge potholes or unearthed streets, where storm drains pour out after every rain, we have vehicles on the sidewalks because there are fewer and fewer parking spaces, we don't have the main strategic documents for the development of the city, we don't have a coordinating body to monitor the tourist season, we have irregular settlement of obligations towards employees by the local self-government, soon we will have nowhere to take the garbage and many other problems. We can state with regret that today Budva has lost the race to many neighboring coastal municipalities of Montenegro, as well as the region, when it comes to the tourist season and the interest of high-paying guests in our city".
He assessed that incompetence, retrograde and the most down-to-earth politics, woven from narrow party and personal interests, vanity and a lack of vision for proper development and sustainability contributed the most to this:
"So, instead of radical departures from Budva's organized criminal group and the real changes they promised citizens before the elections, we only got a replacement."
Radjenović said that they repeatedly warned the councilors of the ruling majority that the political and social crisis that occurred in Budva after the arrest of Božović, which, as he points out, was produced by NSD and DNP, had to be resolved in two ways:
"By replacing the President of the Municipality and the Assembly, or by shortening the mandate of local parliament members, and by scheduling early local elections in Budva. Since there was no political will of the local officials for this, we got the only realistic epilogue to the resolution of the crisis, which is the introduction of forced administration by the Government. Now we are waiting for the announcement of elections, where the citizens will give their verdict on this disastrous policy that we have been witnessing for the last five years".
Odžić: Mandić lacked the courage to replace Božović
Vice-president of Budva SDP Petar Odžić he emphasized that the absolute power of the Democratic Front in Budva led to the absolute collapse of the local self-government system:
"As we could see from earlier performances, the DF central office lost its influence on the councilors in SO Budva, and thus the government. From the very beginning, the SDP has been campaigning in Budva for the shortening of the mandate of the Assembly and the calling of new early elections, because that is the only legally based and fair solution. Andrija Mandic, due to the lack of courage to remove the imprisoned President of the Municipality Milo Božović, with the help of Spajić, is trying to seize at least part of the influence with legal violence, so that before the imminent local elections, Mandić and Spajić will act from the position of power".
There is no agreement when "love of power is the only guide"
Dragana Kažanegra Stanišić assessed that it is always possible to find a measure when the goals are clear and the intentions are sincere.
"The given word was kept and after two years the position of mayor was left to partners from DF. Of course, the goals and intentions changed immediately. When the only guiding principle is the desire for power and personal interests, there is no agreement. Compulsory administration is introduced, a new mayor is installed and elections are entered from the position of absolute power with all known and unknown resources".
She pointed out that everything that has been happening in the city since the October 2022 elections is painful and humiliating.
"The pages of the medieval history of Budva were recorded by the famous don Krsto Ivanović in 'Annals', which are a written record of the time when our city had an arrangement that many more developed centers would envy. For a couple of decades, pages have been printed that will not make our generations proud. We thought that the days of true, radical changes would come from the changes when our city lit the torch of freedom and lit the way for all of Montenegro. We stepped into the changes boldly and decisively from 2017 to 2019 when the city was led by our colleague, Dragan Krapović. It was not easy to find a measure of compromise and start radical changes, especially considering the coalition of 11 parties".
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