Montenegro received a reconstructed government that is the most cumbersome in the world after pro-Serbian parties and the Bosniak party entered it.
At the proposal of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, the members of the Montenegrin Parliament voted for the reconstructed, 44th Government of Montenegro. The most cumbersome apparatus since the introduction of multi-party system has 25 ministers and seven vice-presidents, five of whom are only in the position of vice-president, and two cover both the position of vice-president and ministers. In addition to the old and new officials of the Europe Now Movement, Democrats and Albanian parties, representatives of the Bosniak Party and the pro-Serb party of the former Democratic Front, the New Serbian Democracy (NOVA) and the Democratic People's Party (DNP) entered the new government.
Introducing the new cabinet, Spajić said that this is the government of "historical reconciliation" and that with almost two-thirds support in the parliament, it is a "guarantor of stability". The American Embassy in Podgorica is concerned about, as they announced, the inclusion in the Government of parties and leaders who do not condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine and are against European Union sanctions against Russia.
"As an ally and close partner of Montenegro, the United States of America will continue to support and recognize the constructive actions of the Assembly and the Government, pointing out activities that are contrary to Euro-Atlantic values and endanger tangible progress towards integration into the European Union," the Embassy told Radio Free Europe.
"Ethnofederalization" of Montenegro?
"We are becoming an example in the region of how Serbs and Bosniaks, Serbs and Albanians, Montenegrins and Serbs and everyone can live and work together," Spajić said before the deputies. On the other hand, MP Miloš Konatar of the opposition URA told DW that Montenegro got a right-wing conservative government led by the Speaker of the Assembly Andrija Mandić and Spajić.
"Now it is completely clear that we have a new political bloc led by the former DF, headed by Mandić. To make sure there is no dilemma, PES and the Democrats are part of that right-wing conservative block, and I think it is good that things are cleared up on the political scene of Montenegro," Konatar believes.
On the other hand, DNP leader Milan Knežević, whose party won one vice-presidential and one ministerial position each, said that the list he leads brought Serbs into the government and that this reconstruction "destroys the foolish project" according to which they could not be part of the executive power this level. "We have not given up one iota from our principles," the DNP leader pointed out and added that they could have been "without principles and without ideology", as well as that many told them to "let go of the Serbian language and the church", so that enter the Government.
When asked whether the parties of the former DF on the one hand and Bosniac on the other have betrayed their voters with this coalition, the leader of the non-parliamentary movement "Revolution" Srđan Perić says that ideologically both structures are on the right, in different identity and national positions, but that they in a theoretical sense, they function on similar principles.
"We are moving in the direction of the ethno-federalization of Montenegro and now we see that some alliances are being made that do not necessarily have to be on that course at the moment, but in the future these would not be impossible strategic agreements," Perić told DW.
The leader of the Bosniak Party (BS) and the new Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Government of Montenegro, Ervin Ibrahimović, said that they have no mentors from either the left or the right, and that "those who ask what the BS will do in the government do not think well of Montenegro". "Citizens believe us, these stories are useless. I don't ask what anyone is doing in the other yard. We did many things - won independence, voted for the Constitution, won NATO, we are going towards the EU. Would Montenegro be independent, a member of NATO, have The Constitution is not BS. Believe me, both Montenegrins and Croats respect BS. I have no doubt that we will increase the number of deputies in three years," said the leader of the Bosnian Party.
Perić reminds that the leaders of certain ruling parties who swore that they would not stay in the Government if the Bosniak Party (Aleksa Bečić's Democrats) entered it or that they would not vote for its entry into the Government (Milan Knežević's DNP) are now clearly breaking their word, with more rather unconvincing explanations, which is why the right wins. "Citizens' authentic statements were continuously compressed and made meaningless, first by the DPS, then by other political actors and public officials who have different types of power, and as a result we have a huge abstinence in that electorate. These people do not want to vote for the existing structures, and it is fundamentally difficult for the new ones to reach them. The result: a convincing triumph of the right - not in the elections, but in the post-election combinatorics," adds Perić.
More ministers in Montenegro than in China
The reconstructed cabinet of Milojko Spajić has 32 members and in the history of multi-partyism it has not been recorded that a Montenegrin government has more ministries. The government of Zdravko Krivokapić, in which Spajić was finance minister, had only 2020 ministries and one vice president in 12. Spajić has repeatedly promised the citizens that Montenegro will be the "Switzerland of the Balkans" and the "Singapore of Europe", but Montenegro today has four times more ministers than Switzerland, which has 7, or almost twice as many as Singapore, which has 16. It is interesting that Today, Montenegro has more ministers than China, which has 24. Perić says that departments are seen as loot and hence the lack of measure in the number of ministries and the appetites of individuals. "It should be emphasized that the former DF parties are already represented in the Government, but not at the ministerial level. This government will be partitocratic in its structure, it will try to influence party cadres, and it doesn't take much intelligence to conclude that it is quite certain that ministers from its ranks will often resort to national rhetoric in order not to talk about the concrete achievements that were promised in the pre-election campaign. , adds Perić.
Konatar adds that "this unprincipledly composed Government, because of the armchairs and indolence, is the beginning of its end or "what is born with a hump, time does not correct". "
"The fact that all ministers have no place to sit in the Assembly building and the hall for meetings in the Government speaks best about the structure of the Government. Also, they created a completely meaningless Ministry - for cooperation with the parliament. The faces of the MPs who voted for this and that Government spoke best of everything, they were ashamed and embarrassed, but they pressed the button anyway", says Konatar.
At its first session, the government already decided that the new cabinet can have a total of 54 state secretaries who are first assistant ministers, while there were 36 so far.
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