The head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Andrija Nikolić, said that it is important that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić "finally emerges from the hostage status" in which he is being held by the head of parliament, Andrija Mandić, and the New Serbian Democracy.
He says that Montenegro needs an agreement between the parliamentary opposition and the government, in order to stop the "constant production of crises and provocative and dangerous situations" authored by the Speaker of the Parliament with his allies.
Nikolić stated that, in relation to all public opinion polls, which their competitors from the parliamentary majority also have access to, everything indicates that DPS will achieve a convincing victory in the elections in Nikšić.
He recalled that during the series of local elections last year, the party achieved support of 30 percent in Podgorica and Kotor, and 35 percent in Andrijevica.
"To be extra frank with you, and take my word for it, we will achieve the best election result in Nikšić in this entire series of local elections. And just so you know, these surveys, which our political competitors have access to, confirm that today, the three main constituents of the government, I am talking about the Europe Now movement, the Democrats and the Coalition for the Future of Montenegro, do not have 50% support in Nikšić. They do not have 50% support in Montenegro either, at the state level. So, the trends are clear and I have no doubt that they will be absolutely positive in relation to the Democratic Party of Socialists, I think we will come out with the most convincing political offer, give us a few days and let us inform you in detail about the names that will make up and lead that list," said Nikolić in a guest appearance on Radio-Television Nikšić.
Speaking about the meeting that the parliamentary opposition had with the Head of the European Union Delegation to Montenegro, Johan Satler, Nikolić noted that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and his two ministers were also present.
"We think that Montenegro needs an agreement, an agreement between the parliamentary opposition and the Government, in order to stop the constant production of crises and provocative and dangerous situations, the author of which is the Speaker of Parliament with his allies. When we say that an agreement is needed, then first of all we have in mind the European integration path of our country which, as you know, as the general public knows, has a unique opportunity to accelerate its integration process. Some announcements are that this could happen, even by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. That is why it is very important to put in the background the topics that are usually nominated by the Speaker of Parliament Mandić, that is, topics that divide the public and which can hardly provide a political consensus for their resolution, and very often distract attention from the European integration agenda," said Nikolić, as reported by the RTNK portal.
He said that DPS does not believe that Mandić and NSD's sincere desire is for Montenegro to become a member of the EU.
"Because Montenegro's membership in the European Union is the completion of the full vision of Montenegro's international legal subjectivity, its independence and its role on the international scene."
Crises and provocations, Nikolić believes, are something that, above all, characterizes the current mandate of this parliamentary term.
"We have avoided having a radical response to the provocation of moving flags and introducing a new Parliament logo, but when the Constitution is overturned and the jurisdiction of the Constitutional Court is taken over in that way, then you are pushed against the wall and there is no other way to react than how the parliamentary opposition reacted."
Therefore, he states, it is very important that Spajić properly understands what good intentions and the "responsibility of the state-building opposition" are and, as he said, that he finally emerges from the hostage status in which Mandić and the NSD are holding him.
Spajić's arrival with the ministers to the meeting, Nikolić believes, is a good indicator of readiness and responsibility to overcome the institutional and political crisis in Montenegro.
"That's why I believe there are no substantial obstacles for Prime Minister Spajić to sign something he himself previously proposed. If the Prime Minister cares about EU integration, we can reach an agreement just like we did about the Census."
If, Nikolić said, we agreed that, for example, 265.000 Serbian citizens, who have Serbian citizenship and who were once, as he pointed out, on the lists that Vojislav Koštunica took to Brussels on the eve of the referendum, would seek the exercise of the right to vote in the referendum for these same people, "then we would agree that Montenegro would slide into a model that most closely resembles Dodik's model of voter migration, where you are threatened with disappearance."
The solution for the Constitutional Court, he says, is to wait for the Venice Commission's response on whether the constitutional procedure was violated in the retirement of the Constitutional Court judge.
"So if it is not, as we know it is, depending on the response of the Venice Commission, we will enter the Committee for Constitutional Affairs of the Parliament of Montenegro and revise that decision and allow the judge to continue working where she left off, and to retire in a year, as stipulated in the Decision made by the Constitutional Court when deciding whether the judges of the Constitutional Court should follow this or that law."
Speaking about the security sector's response to the tragedy in Cetinje, Nikolić believes that the leaders of that sector should have resigned and justified it with their moral act.
"Regarding the demands made by the students, I think those demands are legitimate. I have told you my opinion on how well-founded I think they are. Those resignations have not occurred. You have heard the explanation of my colleagues from Democratic Montenegro. They have their own way of communicating on this topic, and that means that it is now Prime Minister Milojko Spajić's turn. That is, he is the one who needs to offer answers to the demands that are being made. Will he take a specific move? I would say that it depends primarily on his willingness to start making political decisions autonomously within the parliamentary majority," Nikolić believes, adding that the Prime Minister's integrity and political credibility are on the test here.
He also referred to the situation in Šavnik, pointing out that it would be good to start by hearing from when the parliamentary majority has been responsible for the situation in the country.
"Since five years have passed since the change of government, since the Democratic Party of Socialists has not been part of the government, it still represents a kind of excuse for a certain dysfunctionality in the state system. What is the recipe for Šavnik? The recipe for Šavnik is to allow the electoral process to be completed, in the simplest terms. There, the electoral process was interrupted several times by activists, constituents of the parliamentary majority, storming polling stations, breaking ballot boxes or taking them away from the polling station. There was no reaction from the police, no reaction from the prosecutor's office. Why? That is a question that representatives of these institutions need to answer," says the head of the DPS parliamentary group.
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