After a long period, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started the process of filling the diplomatic network and is approaching this issue with responsibility and commitment, said the head of diplomacy, Filip Ivanović.
He said that he expects the same amount of commitment and responsibility from other socio-political actors, so that Montenegro can implement and promote its foreign policy priorities in full capacity.
In a post on IX, he commented on a report by TV Vijesti, which was also broadcast by Portal Vijesti, entitled "Montenegro still has no ambassadors in 27 countries: Consultations between the Government and Milatović have been going on for months, without a final result".
"Although foreign policy consultations are not an obligation prescribed by the Constitution or the law, in the previous period this process was a practice, and since in previous years one of the consequences of cohabitation in the relationship between the Government and the President was the impossibility of filling the diplomatic-consular network, the MFA consulted on the appointment of new ambassadors joined willingly and in good faith," says Ivanović.
He adds that the dynamics of consultations and the selection of candidates for ambassadors are not automated processes, but that they were influenced by several factors.
"First, the MFA carried out its internal procedures and very conscientiously and responsibly made the selection of career diplomats to propose as ambassadors in the first iteration. Second, the MFA collected information and biographies of candidates who were proposed as political appointments. Any other approach would be frivolous. "Thirdly, the holding of consultations was conditioned by scheduling an appointment that would correspond to the very demanding agendas of the President of the State, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs," says the head of diplomacy.
Therefore, he adds, the first foreign policy consultations were held on February 22 of this year, recalling that the Cabinet of the President of the State also announced this:
"At that meeting, a total of 16 candidates for ambassadors were proposed, some career diplomats, some so-called political appointments. The president of the country asked for two weeks to familiarize himself with the biographies and conduct interviews with individual candidates, in order to make his decision, which we the prime minister and I greeted. However, the process of familiarization with biographies and interviews did not last two weeks, but a full month, so the next meeting was held on March 20, which was announced by the President's Cabinet," Ivanovic said. "So, it is incorrect that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Government delayed this process, but the President of the State, quite justifiably, needed twice as much time to consider the candidacies as he had announced," said the minister.
If it is taken into account, he states, that 16 candidates were initially proposed to the president, and that, as announced by the MFA, 12 of them were placed in the further procedure, it is completely clear that the president's opinion was respected.
"As it has been repeated several times, the process of obtaining the agreement (consent) of the host country can last from several weeks to several months. Up to this moment, the ministry has received agreements for 7 candidates and, apart from them, a proposal for one has also been submitted to the president for further processing ambassadors to an international organization, the appointment of which does not require agreement, so a total of 8. How many of that number are career and how many are political, has nothing to do with anyone's will, but solely with the dynamics with which the receiving countries issue consent and excessive exaggeration about the number of career, i.e. political, appointments for which the agremans have reached so far", says Ivanović.
He believes that it is "meaningless and malicious" to put the number of agreements in the context of the legal regulation according to which 30 percent of ambassadors can be political appointments. "That percentage refers to the total number of DKP, not to the number of proposals in individual iterations, and even less can it refer to the number of candidates who at some point received agreements. For the sake of clarification, the 'quota' of 30% is currently 11, and as one ambassador and one consul general are currently on duty, which are political appointments, this means that the total remaining number of political appointments is 9. Whether those 9 candidates will be proposed at once or not, and when and which candidate will receive approval, is not known. nothing to do with MFA, but that number (9) will be absolutely respected in the end," Ivanovic said.
He also said that Milatović could "as soon as tomorrow" request the opinion of the competent parliamentary committee on those candidates who received agreements and thus speed up the appointment of eight ambassadors.
"Finally, the process of appointing ambassadors in each country requires special attention, caution, but also time. After a long period, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has started the process of filling the diplomatic network and, as has been said, it approaches this issue responsibly and with dedication. I expect the same amount of dedication and responsibility from other social and political actors, so that Montenegro can implement and promote its foreign policy priorities in full we all prove it with our actions," concludes the head of diplomacy.
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