The President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, assessed that Milo Đukanović would still be in that position, if he had not been a candidate in last year's elections.
"I leave it to the citizens to judge how negatively it would affect the democratic development of our country," Milatović said in a guest appearance on the Television of Montenegro.
Milatović, the former deputy president of the Europe Now Movement, said that it was legitimate that he and the leader of that party, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, had a political split when their views were "too far apart".
"As long as we could 'iron out' those differences, we were together. When I judged that I no longer wanted to give credibility to certain positions that I did not stand behind, the only right thing I could do was what I did," he added.
He said that he wishes Spajić all the best and that he thinks he knows that.
Milatović, among other things, said that it is good that the head of the government is someone who has the greatest legitimacy to be in that position based on the election results, that the government is focused on European integration and that, as he said, "continues with the right things that did the previous one", which concern the preservation of citizens' standards, citing as an example the decision to limit trade margins to basic foodstuffs.
However, he considers the decision not to extradite Turkish citizen Binali Çamgoz to be "very problematic".
Milatović said that "many people, who in some way were part of certain structures" during the previous regime, are now "strongly" positioned in PES.
"That has not been the case since the movement was founded. I probably also partly made that mistake, because my partial withdrawal was used by certain structures. I think that really, my exit was a red alarm for the Europe Now Movement. I said that I would be happy if my departure can be used to correct some things. If that is not the case, and I strongly doubt that it will be, in the end the citizens will be able to recognize it best," he said.
"People confirmed what Abazović said"
Commenting on the claims of the leader of the URA Civil Movement, Dritan Abazović, that Prime Minister Spajić's uncle, "a certain Kankaraš" - according to Abazović and a candidate for the director of the National Security Agency - conducts interviews with candidates for important positions in numerous sectors, Milatović said:
"As far as I received information from many who participated in such conversations, those people confirmed what Mr. Abazović said."
Focus energy on things that come after IBAR
Milatović said that, among other things, he "strongly crossed paths" with Spajić when it comes to the prime minister's advocacy for Montenegro to be a "crypto-paradise" or, as Milatović said, "crypto-friendly" destination.
"We often talked about this. I thought that economically Montenegro should position itself differently, that the promotion of such policies is contrary to EU integration, that the policy where bilateral negotiations on large projects are also non-transparent..."
Milatović assessed that citizens did not vote for many personnel decisions in the elections. He says that Predrag Drecun was not part of his election staff.
The president of the country said that not getting IBAR would be "as if we missed an empty goal from the penalty spot", but that "we have already essentially got it".
"We should focus our efforts on the things that come after receiving IBAR," he said.
Consider having mayors directly elected
Milatović said that the five recent PES councilors, members of the new councilor club Pokret za Podgorica, made an immeasurable contribution to the PES election list, which he led, to achieve the result it achieved in the elections.
"Many of them had perhaps a much greater contribution to the election result than some people who are currently in the highest positions in the city administration," said Milatović.
When asked if those councilors deserved their positions, he said that he did not want to get involved in the discussions of the councilor majority in the capital. "We need to find a model of cooperation within that majority," he added.
Milatović says that it should be considered that mayors and presidents of municipalities are directly elected.
"Now we have a situation where, perhaps precisely because some people did not go through certain things in the same way, they do not have the same enthusiasm and energy compared to those who carried certain electoral lists", he stated.
He says that an electoral system should be created that will affirm direct democracy.
"Clearly no one has seen the program 'Europe Now 2'"
Milatović, when asked if he distanced himself from the program "Europe Now 2", asked the host if she knew what that program was.
"I would like to have a document that accurately represents the steps and thus represents the 'Europe Now 2' program," he added.
When asked if he had seen that program, Milatović said that it was clear that no one in Montenegro had seen it.
"That was the point of contention between Mr. Spajić and me. It's even sadder that people don't distinguish between the goals and the steps that need to be taken to reach those goals. The goal is 1.000 euros, but to reach that goal, you have to do something," he said. is.
Milatović said that the "Europe Now 1" program is fundamentally different from the "Europe Now 2" program, because "everything was written in black and white and was open for public discussion."
"The 'Europe Now 2' program has, for example, a salary of 1.000 euros for its goals... In the first conversation with Spajić, when I asked him to put the steps on paper, he said that we will reach the salary by making Montenegro attractive for certain crypto stuff, where companies from the crypto industry would transfer some of the jobs here, so that we would essentially get to an increase in wages to some level of 1.000 euros. integration," said Milatović.
He says that while he was "in charge of certain processes" in PES, things were "clear and transparent".
In order for Montenegro to be better, the parties must be better, said Milatović.
"I don't want to give credibility to anything that isn't written, grounded in analysis..."
Some candidates are not good solutions for ambassadors
Milatović, speaking about the informal talks with proposed candidates for ambassadors, said that he got the impression that some candidates were not good solutions for that position.
He says that it is problematic that he was the only one who interviewed all 16 candidates, and that neither the Prime Minister nor the Minister of Foreign Affairs had previously interviewed the proposed candidates. "I hope it won't happen again," he added.
Milatović said that he could not stand behind some of the proposed names, which affirmed a policy that is different from the foreign policy priorities of Montenegro, and that he also questioned the fact that some have dual citizenships.
"I was surprised that such proposals even came to me," he said.
Milatović says that seven of the proposed career diplomats are acceptable to him.
The non-unified policy "got over the back" of the minister and deputy
Milatović said that the "non-uniform and somewhat confusing" policy of the Government and the parliamentary majority "got over the backs" of Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević and DNP MP Maja Vukićević. He said that Gorčević is doing a good job in a very demanding environment.
When asked if he would found a party, he repeated that he would not run away from such political responsibility, "if democratic processes" require additional political engagement from him.
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