Former President of the Parliament of Montenegro and Honorary President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Ranko Krivokapić said that the United States of America (USA) saved all the minutes from the debates on the writing of the Constitution so that they would be part of future debates.
"The referendum was on May 21, and the meeting in my cabinet was already on May 23," he pointed out.
Krivokapić added that the Constitution was adopted in 2007, and that a year was left to reach an agreement with Serbia, but it was not reached.
"When we were writing the Constitution, I was an advocate of the civil state. When the Constitution from '92 was written, when Montenegrins were 70 percent, Milošević insisted that it be a civil state, not a national state of Montenegrins," said Krivokapić.
He would explain that the introduction of dual citizenship would lead to conflict, division...
"Russia distributed citizenships en masse before the annexation of Crimea and was a major investor in Ukraine," Krivokapic said.
Nebojša Vučinić, former representative of Montenegro at the Court in Strasbourg and professor of international law, said that citizenship is not a natural right, but a discretionary obligation of the state that determines to whom it can be given or taken away.
Lawyer Miloš Vukčević said that Montenegro has clearly defined in the law that it is possible to make an agreement on reciprocity.
"We all have relatives in Serbia, but we don't want them to be the subject of abuse, to bring them on buses to vote. If the data shows that there are 300.000 people in Serbia who have citizenship, and ten percent of them exercise the right to vote, that significantly affects the elections in Montenegro," Vukčević pointed out.
He referred to the problem of Šavnik, where the state cannot determine who has a residence, let alone tomorrow, who has it in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and the United States of America (USA).
"If you were to conclude a contract with the state on reciprocity that they would provide you with data on everyone who acquires citizenship, even then there would be possible abuses," said Vukčević.
He said that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced that the right to second-class citizenship could be introduced, but that this was impossible without amending the Constitution.
"From the point of view of the European Convention on Citizenship, it would be controversial, because it would form second-class citizens - if someone votes after two years, and someone after ten years.
As he pointed out, all small states that have a large neighbor, such as the Baltic countries, do not allow dual citizenship.
The president of the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro and former director of the National Security Agency (ANB) Savo Kentera said that this issue should not be approached only as a political issue.
"This is about protecting state interests. If we want to have a sustainable state, we have to take care of some things. Possessing dual citizenship would lead to individual citizens having greater political power, and that some states, through their intermediaries, would influence Montenegrin politics , and that there is a problem of infiltration by loyalists of other interests if citizens are more loyal to one country and not another, we have a problem," said Kentera.
According to him, Montenegro is a divided society, and dual citizenship could lead to further deepening of those divisions.
Kentera assessed that this issue leads to a problem with military conscription - if it comes to it, which country will they be loyal to.
As he said, by introducing dual citizenship, the Montenegrin national identity can be weakened.
"The EU can think that Montenegro shares values with non-member states," he said.
Associate professor at the University of Donja Gorica, Nikoleta Đukanović, said that the initiators of the law announced a public debate, but that this law, like many controversial ones, will probably be introduced overnight, without consultation with citizens and the professional public.
"The EU and international partners have been talking about the need to reform electoral legislation for years," she said.
Đukanović added that one of the problems is the disordered voter list.
"We failed to solve the shortcomings of the current system, and we would like to introduce a new one. With the exception of the tasks for managers from Belgrade, the pro-Serbian parties are doing it because of the calculation that it will bring them a large number of votes. That is why they said that this is the main goal of this government." , Đukanović pointed out.
Pavle Dimitrijević, director of legal affairs of the CRTA organization from Serbia, said that the migration of voters in Serbia began in September of last year, after 62 mayors of municipalities resigned.
"During the election process, we came across data that, as far as the elections in Belgrade are concerned, between 24.000 and 30.000 voters from outside contributed to the ruling party remaining in power," he said.
He added that some voters were registered at non-existent addresses (streets, gas stations, substations...).
Bojan Bugarin, the former coordinator of Chapter 24 for the area of migration within the negotiations with the European Union (EU), assessed that the Law on Dual Citizenship is not realistic, because the existing Law on Citizenship excludes it, but it is possible to conclude agreements on reciprocity with other countries.
As he added, Croatia and the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) had such agreements with Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), and that negotiations between Serbia and Montenegro were conducted in 2008, but there was no political will of Serbia to share data. , who among Montenegrin citizens acquired citizenship.
"It was stated that the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship is restrictive, even if the Montenegrin policy was rigid in this matter. I do not agree with that. From 2006 to 2008, Montenegro approved 35.000 citizenships," he pointed out.
The Bulgarian added that the citizenship policy, which will be led by this and the next governments, if it is not well planned, i.e. if it is not adapted to the current political circumstances, it may happen that the Montenegrins in Montenegro will become a minority in 30 years.
"We still don't know whether they will resort to a model contract or changes to the law that will allow certain persons to acquire citizenship without renouncing the previous one," he said.
According to him, many statements by politicians have no basis in law, such as not allowing the right to vote ten years after acquiring citizenship, because the Constitution defines that the condition for the right to vote is citizenship and two years of residence.
"Any significant influence of citizens would be reflected in the voter list, and now we have a voter list that is not accurate and up-to-date," he said.
The President of the Association of Lawyers, Branislav Radulović, assessed that every state, exercising sovereign power, has the right to regulate the issue of citizenship.
As he added, dual citizenship opens up a special set of rights - taxes, military service, the right to vote...
Azra Karastanović from the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro said that representatives of the ministries of justice and interior affairs were also invited, but they did not respond.
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