The Council for Defense and Security does not sit for longer than five months, and while from the office of the head of state Jakov Milatović they see the prime minister as the main culprit Milojko Spajić, from his cabinet reject those claims, saying that it is complicated to agree on the dates of the sessions due to the schedule of the members of the Council, and that some sessions were canceled by Milatović.
The third member of the Council, the head of the parliament Andrija Mandic, silenced the questions of "Vijesti" about why the body has not been in session for months.
The council, chaired by the head of state, held its last session on February 1. At the time, Milatović and Spajić, although in bad political relations, were formally in the Europe Now Movement (PES), which the president left at the end of that month, which made cohabitation official, i.e. - a political situation in which the president and the prime minister belong to different camps.
According to the Rules of Procedure of the Council (Article 8), in order for the session to be held, all members must attend it, and the Council decides by consensus, i.e. - unanimously. That body, according to the Constitution (Article 130), makes decisions on the command of the Army of Montenegro, analyzes and evaluates the security situation in the country, appoints, promotes and dismisses army officers, proposes to the parliament the declaration of a state of war and emergency, as well as the use of the army in international forces, and performs other tasks determined by the Constitution or the law.
Milatović's public relations office told "Vijesta" that meetings are convened, as a rule, by written invitation, that when planning their scheduling, a date that suits all members is taken into account, and that therefore attempts are made to coordinate a common date before sending the agenda. . The coordination of the scheduling of the session, they add, is carried out by the secretary of the Council, according to the instructions of the head of state's cabinet.
The president's office claims that, after the last session of the Council, it was planned to schedule the session for May 29.
"Given that one of the items on the agenda was to discuss personnel issues and the situation in the Army, the president initiated a meeting with the Minister of Defense, the Chief of the General Staff and all the colonels of the Army of Montenegro, in order to personally be informed in detail about the current situation in the Montenegrin army, so that in that way he could relevantly, with the other members, make decisions at that session", Milatović's office told the newspaper, without specifying why the session was not held.
Spajić's office told "Vijesti" that, "in the dynamic schedule" of the three members of the Council, it is complicated to agree on the dates of the sessions, and that this is one of the reasons that make it difficult to schedule and hold sessions. They say that it is true that there was an attempt to schedule a session from the head of state's office, through the Council's secretary, and that in May, on the eve of Independence Day (May 21), a date was agreed upon and the agenda of the session was announced.
"However, as we were informed by the secretary of the Council, the session was canceled by the president, and the reasons were not communicated to us," Spajić's office claims.
After the failed attempt to hold a session in May, Milatović's office claims that the secretary of the Council, at the initiative of the head of state's cabinet, tried several times to determine the date of scheduling the session in June, and that he asked Spajić's cabinet for a proposal for a date that would be suitable for the prime minister. appropriate. After, they say, they did not receive the proposal, Milatović convened a session for June 24 at 10 a.m. and sent the agenda, on which, they say, one of the points was Montenegro's participation in the NATO summit, which will be held from tomorrow to 11 a.m. to be held in Washington in July.
"The Prime Minister's Cabinet refused to attend, after which they were again asked to propose any date next week that would suit the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's Office replied that the Prime Minister, Mr. Spajić, then absent due to obligations that were scheduled in advance...", say from Milatović's office.
When asked if it was true that Spajić refused the invitation to the session on June 24, justifying it with an official visit to Brussels, which lasted from June 26 to 28, his cabinet replied that the session was not scheduled for June 24, but that that was the proposed date, which had to be agreed upon at the level of three members, "since decisions are made by consensus, even when it comes to the date of the session".
"However, it is not true that we refused the mentioned appointment, justifying it with an official visit, but in an oral communication we informed the secretary of the Council that the proposed appointment was not appropriate, without additional explanations," claim Spajić's office.
Milatović's public relations office states that, after they were told that Spajić would be absent in the week after June 24 due to commitments, his cabinet was again asked to propose a date for the session, but that attempt was also unsuccessful. They claim that, after insisting, they received a response from the Prime Minister's office that the session was planned to be held after July 16, "so that he would be able to respond positively to the invitation...".
"Given that one of the items on the agenda is Montenegro's participation in the NATO summit, which will be held from July 9 to 11, we believe that it is of great importance that the session be held in the first week of July at the latest. However, it is obvious that the Prime Minister's office has avoided scheduling a session, and that it has an irresponsible attitude towards this important body," said Milatović's office.
They state that the president's cabinet was not formally informed about Montenegro's participation in the Alliance summit, nor that a consensus was reached on who will represent the country in Washington.
"Given the importance of the summit, and the topics that will be discussed there, it is very important for the Council to reach a consensus and reach conclusions in relation to this issue," he wrote in the answers to "Vijesta".
When asked how they comment on suggestions that Spajić, by refusing to set June 24 as the date of the session, avoided discussing Montenegro's participation in the NATO summit at the Council, the Prime Minister's office said that they do not understand the correlation between the eventual holding of the Council session and the participation of the delegation in the summit. They remind that on February 28 they published information about the invitation that Spajić received from the outgoing Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg, assessing that the issue of the summit is an activity in the domain of foreign policy, which is under the jurisdiction of the Government by the Constitution. It is important, they add, to note that during the summit, the North Atlantic Council (NAC) will meet in the format of heads of state/government.
As for the suggestions about the intention to avoid some topics, they say that the date of the session is one aspect, which, they say, was answered through the previous question, while the agenda is another, which, according to them, is also agreed upon. by consensus of all members.
"As far as topics are concerned, the Constitution and the Law on the Defense of Montenegro are quite clear, so unless one of the members nominated a topic that goes beyond these frameworks, there would eventually be a lack of consensus. However, we do not believe that there could be any confusion if any of the members nominates topics that according to the Constitution and the law are not within the authority of the body, so the key reason remains that, within the very condensed schedule of three members, it is sometimes difficult to find an adequate appointment for holding the session", Spajić's office states.
They announce that the prime minister intends to start a conversation on this topic with other members of the Council, in order to reach "an optimal functioning model" of that body.
"The Council is an important mechanism for making decisions, such as the decision on the command of the Army of Montenegro, then the analysis and assessment of the security situation in Montenegro, the appointment, promotion and dismissal of Army officers, proposing to the Assembly the declaration of a state of war and emergency, proposing the use of the Army in international forces and sl.", he writes in the answers to "Vijesta".
Ministry: No difficulties, part of the decisions are signed without the Council meeting
From Milatović's office, it is of additional concern that by not holding Council sessions, the discussion and decision-making on other important issues that fall within the competence of that body, such as personnel and other important issues in the Army, many of which have clearly prescribed deadlines, are being postponed.
The Ministry of Defense told "Vijesta" that they have no problems in their work because the Council is not in session.
"The Council decides on proposed decisions of the Ministry at sessions, as well as in the periods between two sessions. This is supported by the fact that since February 1, when the last meeting was held, the Council considered proposals and made 127 decisions, of which 100 related to appointments, 22 to dismissals, two to regular promotions and one decision on emergency medical transport by military by aircraft. So far, the Ministry has not had any difficulties in its work, because, as stated above, some decisions are signed even without the Council meeting", they state.
From the Ministry, which is headed by Dragan Krapović, "respecting the members of the Council who responsibly perform their duties", they emphasize that this department cooperates intensively with them, and that so far they have not had any delays in performing their duties.
"In addition, the Ministry of Defense submitted three reports to the Council for consideration: on the situation in the Army of Montenegro, on the use of units in international forces and exercises or training abroad", according to Krapović's department.
Spajić, Ivanović, Krapović are going to the NATO summit...
The former Chief of the General Staff of the Army of Montenegro, Dragan Samardžić, said on Friday on the "Iks" network that it is "simply unbelievable" that there is no Chief of the General Staff and/or the military representative of Montenegro in NATO in the country's delegation for the NATO summit.
"So much for understanding the functioning of NATO and the role of the NATO Military Committee in making political decisions, as well as respecting the military authorities of Montenegro," he wrote.
The government announced on Friday that the Montenegrin delegation will be led by Prime Minister Spajić, and that it will also include Foreign Affairs Minister Filip Ivanović and Defense Minister Krapović.
The day before yesterday, the Ministry of Defense replied to Samardzic that the NATO summit is a meeting of the NAC (North Atlantic Council) at the level of heads of state or presidents of governments of alliance members and invited partners, and that it is held usually once a year. In addition, they add, the same body meets three times a year at the level of ministers of defense, twice at the level of ministers of foreign affairs and several times a week at the level of permanent representatives/ambassadors of member states.
They also say that, within the Alliance, there is also a main military body, that is, the Military Committee, which also has different formats. Thus, according to them, the meetings of the Military Committee are held two to three times a week at the level of the military representatives of the member states to NATO, and three times a year at the level of the Chiefs of General Staff.
"... In the hope that there is a sincere intention behind the admiral's announcement, it would be interesting to see if he was zealous in commenting on the delegations at the summits in previous years as well, for example in Vilnius in 2023 and Madrid in 2022, when they were also not part of neither the Chief of the General Staff, nor the representative of the military part of the Permanent Mission of Montenegro to NATO, although special working sessions for defense ministers were organized at the summits in Vilnius and Madrid, which is not the case with the summit in Washington", said the Ministry.
Note: In the printed edition it was written that Jakov Milatović was excluded from the Movement Europe Now (PES). We apologize to the readers and Milatović for the error.
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