Re-examining the identity issues of the Speaker of the Parliament Andrije Mandić, yesterday was met with harsh reactions from coalition partners from the Europe Now Movement (PES), who said that these topics were not a priority for the Government and that they were an indicator of a lack of awareness of the real problems of citizens.
Mandić said that no one can deny the right of the largest linguistic community in the country to fight for the status it deserves, which means that "the Serbian language cannot be treated as a second-class language by the Constitution."
"Starting from the fact that we need great reconciliation after the political trauma of the collapse of the states in which we lived, the misunderstandings and difficult political struggles we waged, we should all come to new constitutional and legal solutions together through dialogue and prescribed procedures," Mandić said in an interview with the newspaper "Politika".
He stated that "the initiative to declare the Serbian language official in the Constitution of Montenegro is an ongoing process," stating that we are now entering the phase of initiating a broad dialogue in all spheres of society.
"The fight for the position of our language did not begin yesterday, nor in the 2023 or 2020 elections, but from the moment when a parliamentary majority in 2007 adopted a Constitution that was contrary to the real situation in our country," said Mandić.
Vice President of the Parliament of Montenegro and Secretary General of PES Boris Pejović He said that identity issues are not a priority for the Government of Montenegro.
In a post on the X network, he stated that the Government's priorities are the economy, infrastructure development, European integration, and the rule of law.
"The Europe Now movement is not against a dialogue that will resolve decades-old divisions instigated for political purposes, but it is also not in favor of the affirmation of those topics that will raise tensions, also for political purposes, which is against the interests of the majority of citizens who want a better life," Pejović wrote.
MP of PES Vasilije Carapić He assessed that raising the issue of dual citizenship and the Serbian language before the Nikšić elections is an indicator of a lack of awareness of the real needs of citizens and an abundance of ignorance about how to do work in the general interest.
"Simply put - they don't have a plan for Nikšić, so we shouldn't trust them anymore," Čarapić wrote on his X account.
Mandić recalled that the Montenegrin language was declared official in 2007, although according to the results of the 2003 census, 63,5 percent of Montenegrin citizens spoke Serbian.
"When the Constitution was written in 2007, the then parliamentary majority did not accept any of the demands of the political representatives of the Serbian people. In fact, they incorporated into the identity determinants of the new Constitution everything opposite to what previously characterized the identity of the Republic, Kingdom and Principality of Montenegro. We had a census in 2023 and we saw that its results confirm that the Constitution of 2007 must be improved, so it is natural for the new parliamentary majority to harmonize the people's will with the highest legal act in the country.
"Discriminatory definitions should be removed, and through the broadest possible dialogue, solutions should be reached that will ensure justice, and we have strongly raised this issue before the political public of Montenegro."
He pointed out that it is undemocratic for the former majority, and today's opposition, to make demands that they declare the current Constitution a holy book in which nothing may be changed, even if "individual provisions do not correspond to the truth."
"No one can deny the right of the largest linguistic community in Montenegro to fight for the status it deserves, and this means that the Serbian language cannot be treated as a second-class language by the Constitution," said Mandić.
I dual citizenship topic
He also pointed out that dual citizenship was a topic that he raised with expatriates for the first time after taking office as Speaker of the Parliament.
"This initiative has been widely welcomed by representatives of emigrant organizations, because they are living for the day when they will be able to enter Montenegro with a Montenegrin passport. Of course, this initiative would concern all our emigrants, whether they are in Serbia, Turkey, the USA, Bosnia and Herzegovina or around the world. I often repeat that another Montenegro lives in Serbia."
He said that Montenegro is an ideal place to live and that "we need to come up with a plan to become a country with a million inhabitants in the coming period."
"What is more natural than to offer people who have their roots in Montenegro, whose families, houses, land, graves are in it, the right to return and tie their future to their homeland," asked Mandić.
He also said that this was the "point" of his initiative regarding dual citizenship, and not any electoral engineering.
According to the Law on Montenegrin Citizenship, it is acquired by descent, birth on the territory of Montenegro, admission, and under international treaties and agreements.
Montenegrin citizenship can be acquired by a person who has reached the age of 18, has been released from citizenship of another country, and has resided in Montenegro legally and continuously for 10 years prior to submitting an application for admission to Montenegrin citizenship...
Prime Minister Milojko Spajic (PES) said in June last year that citizens who obtain Montenegrin citizenship through changes to the law will have to spend more than six months each year in the country and will only be able to vote after ten years. Shortly afterwards, after a stormy reaction from some in the public that this solution was unconstitutional, Spajić's cabinet issued a statement, "clarifying" that changes to the law would only be made after all protective legal mechanisms were in place, and that constitutional changes were a prerequisite for such solutions.
Article 45 of the Constitution stipulates that the right to vote and be elected belongs to a citizen of Montenegro who has reached the age of 18 and has resided in Montenegro for at least two years.
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