There is a lot of dissatisfaction in the Democratic People's Party (DNP) due to the Prime Minister's announcement Milojko Spajić that the Government will support the proposed resolution on Srebrenica, and the decision to remain in power will be known in the following days.
This was said by the source of "Vijesti" from the DNP, while from the Socialist People's Party (SNP) they unofficially say that political tensions have started to subside due to the announced support for the UN resolution.
Analyst and civic activist Stefan Djukic he does not believe that the DNP will leave power and believes that it is just a story for the voters and a "game of good and bad policeman", considering that their coalition partner New Serbian Democracy (NSD) has announced that they will remain in power.
"What is it to whom (Andrew) Mandic and (Milan) Knezevic that is already a question for the observer. Their goal is the reconstruction of the Government, they will not do anything to harm that goal," Đukić told "Vijesta".
The bottom line, he added, is that they do not have any competition that will attack them at this moment and says "you are not orthodox, you are not good Serbs, if you remain in this government".
He does not believe that the voters will punish the DNP or the NSD, because "we don't live on resolutions, we don't get jobs through voting and through amendments."
If the DNP refused to support the Government, it would not "fall", but it would be separated by only one vote. The ruling majority has 46 deputies, among whom are four DNP members. With their eventual departure from power, the majority would "decline" to 42 votes - one more than required for the election of the Government. However, if nine MPs from the NSD and two from the SNP were to leave the government, Spajić's cabinet would undoubtedly lose its majority, unless it would otherwise replace the denied support with the votes of the opposition.
The DNP announced a review of its support for the Government after Spajić announced on Thursday in the Parliament during the prime minister's hour that Montenegro will support the resolution on Srebrenica. NSD leader and Assembly Speaker Andrija Mandić said that his party will remain in power and "will soon become part of the Government".
"Vijesti" was told unofficially by the DNP that there is a lot of dissatisfaction in that party and calls to leave the government because of Spajić's announcement of support for the UN resolution proposal, but that it is not yet known what the party authorities will say about it.
"We don't have a defined decision, but it will be announced in the next few days," said a source from Knežević's party, adding that there was no discussion in the party about whether proposing or adopting a resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac, which was requested by the DNP leader yesterday Milan Knežević, could be a compromise measure for the DNP to remain in power.
The interlocutor said that he thinks that NSD and SNP will Vladimir Joković remain in power, that is, that they will not deny her support because of the resolution on Srebrenica.
The SNP did not respond to "Vijeci" about whether they would withdraw their support for the Spajić government because of Srebrenica. A source from that party said that he thinks that the political tensions due to the Prime Minister's announcement of support for the UN resolution have started to subside, and that he expects that the situation will calm down when the parliamentary majority or the Government submits the proposal for a resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac to the parliamentary procedure.
MP of the SNP Sladjana Kaluđerović on Thursday she said in the Parliament that the SNP ministers will not support the Resolution on Srebrenica at the Government session.
However, the Government did not comment on that issue yesterday.
"There was no discussion. There is no need for discussion", Spajić said yesterday at the press conference after the Government session.
It was unofficially explained to "Vijesti" that the Government does not necessarily have to decide on the proposed resolution at the session, unless someone finds the issue controversial and requests a vote, and that it is also possible for the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to an agreement on their own, and then the Minister forward to the chargé d'affaires in New York instructions on how to vote.
The resolution, initiated by Germany and Rwanda, calls for July 11 to be declared the International Day of Remembrance of the Srebrenica Genocide. The vote in the United Nations Assembly was supposed to take place on May 2, but was postponed. The new voting date has not yet been determined. The government announced the submission of two amendments to the resolution.
Although the resolution does not mention any nation or state, the Government allegedly intends to amend the preamble of the draft resolution to include the position "reiterating that the guilt for the crime of genocide is individualized and cannot be attributed to any ethnic, religious or other group or community as a whole”. The second amendment would refer to "confirming the inviolability of the general framework agreement for peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina in all its provisions".
In an interview with TVCG on Thursday, Spajić said that there is no instability and that the reconstruction of the Government remains after receiving the IBAR (Report and assessment of the fulfillment of temporary benchmarks for chapters 23 and 24).
"It is very important that the expansion of the Government takes place and the relaxation of the ministries that are under pressure. After half a year, we will do an internal evaluation to see where the government is failing and make the government more efficient, expand it, and strengthen the political representatives of ethnic groups, and I support such initiatives," said Spajić.
He believes that there are no passes, especially not large ones.
"We signed a German-type coalition agreement. Mr. Mandić did not block decisions and we had no problems regarding credible NATO membership and good-neighborly cooperation," Spajić pointed out.
Lekić: To seriously study the option of abstaining from voting
Demos leader and long-time diplomat Miodrag Lekić he assessed that no normal person can deny the "horror of the cowardly crime" in Srebrenica, as well as that it is impossible to deny that a potential resolution in the UN has political functions and consequences in the now complex international context - all this indicates that the overall topic is very sensitive.
"It is particularly sensitive for Montenegro, which shows that it is (too) easily thrown out of stability, especially by influences from the region," said Lekić to "Vijesta".
He believes that especially in the light of unknown consequences, risks and possible destabilization of the region, the adoption of the latest resolution, its insufficiently known political motives at the moment, as well as due to the obvious actions of many political instigators and merchants of the tragedy in Srebrenica - the Montenegrin side has reason to seriously study and variant of abstaining from voting in the UN.
"Such a possible attitude, with the aim of preventing destabilization of the region, should be seriously presented, argued and consulted in the EU, bearing in mind the proclaimed European priority in the field of foreign policy of Montenegro", he said.
Lekić says that all countries react on the international level based on their national interest, which is not the case in Montenegro, where there are several national interests - at least four, as a result of a "neglected society and fairly collapsed state cohesion".
"Judgments of international courts, which are factual in themselves and as such should be respected, does not mean that they automatically determine the making of political decisions that are of great importance for the stability of the country and the region," said Lekić.
President of the Republic of Srpska Milorad Dodik said yesterday that Montenegro's support for the announced resolution of the UN General Assembly was a "shameful act".
"As for Montenegro, of course we are not comfortable, but we will not forget," Dodik told reporters in Banja Luka, adding that he did not expect Montenegro to "continue such a brutal policy towards the Serbs" because it previously recognized Kosovo's independence and "has some relation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, not counting that there is also Republika Srpska".
The former head of Serbian diplomacy, now the country's minister of internal affairs, Ivica Dacic he assessed Montenegro's announcement as "shameful and outrageous".
"Resolutions upon resolutions"
Commenting on Milan Knežević's request that the Government propose a resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac, Stefan Đukić states that Montenegro has had "resolutions upon resolutions" for three or four years.
"Let's remember when the Resolution on Srebrenica was also suddenly in the Assembly in 2021, that then the Democrats, in order to have communication (with the voters), proposed resolutions on Velica and Piva. Is this an indication that we live in a healthy society? It is not, as soon as there is a constant need to return, to say whose victims are greater, whose criminals are more cruel and the like. So, a primitive way of conducting politics, in which there is no healthy actor, everyone is equally to blame", he said.
He believes that the only question is when who will "turn on the button" when he has to prove his loyalty to this or that nation, to this or that allies, etc. through some resolution.
Yesterday, Milan Knežević called on Spajić to submit a proposal for a resolution on Jasenovac by Friday, in order to condemn the "genocide against the Serbian, Jewish and Roma people" in the Parliament, following a shortened procedure.
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At the press conference, Spajić said that it is a political resolution, more than a technical one, and that "it is more typical for it to happen in the Assembly and for the parliamentary majority to make a proposal for a resolution."
"As the Government, we do not run away from responsibility and work, so - we will come to an agreement," said Spajić.
On Thursday, after the prime minister's hour, the DNP announced that the coalition agreement had been grossly violated, which clearly specified that the new executive power would not emphasize and open topics that would divide along national, religious and ideological lines.
This was repeated by the DNP deputy at the Assembly session yesterday Milun Zogović, stating that in that agreement it is written that "the signatories undertake not to support acts that may damage the cohesion of society, or cause unnecessary tensions".
Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic answered Zogović, she said that Montenegro had already acted on the issue of Srebrenica in the previous period and that it was an issue that should not be used for political purposes.
"Complex matter with the concept of genocide on the international level"
Lekić said that after the adoption of several resolutions on crimes and genocides on the territory of Montenegro throughout history in the Assembly, there were remarks that it degraded the importance of the Resolution on Srebrenica.
He reminds that voices from Israel can be heard that proclaiming the genocide in Srebrenica diminishes the weight and importance of the "real" genocide of the Holocaust.
"This argument gains weight when we remember that the extermination of 6 million Jews in German camps was not preceded by a civil war in which Jews would have fought against the Nazis," he said.
It indicates that on the international level the matter is complex with the understanding, declaration, (non)recognition of genocide.
He cites the example of France, which in 2012 passed the Law on the Genocide of the Armenians 1915-1917 in Turkey, which stipulates the criminal responsibility of citizens if they deny the legal article on that genocide.
"Turkey, whose formations committed such an act, harshly and consistently, from Ataturk to Erdogan, denies the existence of the aforementioned genocide on its territory. On the other hand, it is the Turkish president who publicly announces that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza in recent months, where until now, according to according to official data, around 50 Palestinians were killed," says Lekić.
Pro-Serbian media and organizations call the SPC and parties to protests
The IN4S portal called on citizens, pro-Serbian parties and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in Montenegro to "organize resistance" and mass protests due to the Prime Minister's announcement that the Government will support the resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica.
IN4S's invitation was accepted by Michaelmas choir and Stupovi, Orthodox brotherhoods close to the SPC, then the Association of Serbs from Montenegro based in Belgrade and NGO Serdar.
NSD, DNP and SNP did not answer the questions of "Vijesti" whether they would support these protests.
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