Some members of the General Committee (GO) of the ruling Europe Now Movement (PES) demanded the dismissal of the party's executive director and secretary general last week. Vlada Bojović i Boris Pejović, because they are dissatisfied with their party work - "Vijesti" learns unofficially.
These demands, the newspaper's source claims, were made on Thursday by some PES members from the north of the country, at a session of the GO party held in Podgorica. According to the interlocutor, they are dissatisfied with the situation in the party, namely its poor results in the last few local elections (Nikšić, Budva, Podgorica...), the lack of development of the party infrastructure, namely the fact that PES does not have committees in most municipalities, the personnel policy in the Government...
The source states that part of the membership from the north addresses the responsibility for this to Bojović and Pejović, and especially, he says, to the party's executive director.
The interlocutor said that a few days before the GO session, there was informal talk in PES that the request to dismiss Bojović and Pejović would be on the agenda of that party body, but that then on Thursday an item called - intra-party consultations - was proposed for the agenda.
At the session, claims the "Vijesti" interlocutor, there was a heated discussion about the situation in the PES, which is why the agenda was not adopted, so the session, in a formal sense, actually did not take place.
According to unofficial information from the newspaper, a heated argument allegedly took place at the session between the PES MP and Jelena Nedovic and the leader of that party and the Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, after which he left the session. Another interlocutor from PES claims that there was no argument, but only a “hectic discussion” between Spajić and Nedović, and that the Prime Minister initially said that he could not stay at the session for long.
Asked whether there was an argument, Nedović told "Vijesti" yesterday that "there was nothing" and that these were "internal party issues".
Responding to the newspaper's questions, PES also denied that there had been any arguments, adding that no resignations had been requested.
"PES maintains intra-party communication in accordance with the dynamics of party activities and political developments. Like every party, PES reserves the right not to present the content of this communication to the media, but to inform the public about the decisions made in a timely manner. There were no arguments or requests for resignations," they said.
According to the PES Statute, the General Assembly elects and dismisses the executive director and secretary general upon the proposal of the party leader.
A "Vijesti" source from PES claims that a number of party members proposed that Pejović be succeeded in his position by the executive director of the Pljevlja Coal Mine. Nemanja Laković, who is considered close to Spajić. According to the source, the membership from the north also wants to be more represented in the party's bodies. They also allegedly object to the fact that the former head of the state parliament and honorary president of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Ranko Krivokapic employed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Minister-Counselor.
There was public speculation about Bojović's potential dismissal in the fall, after the elections in Podgorica held at the end of September last year, when PES won over 17 votes in coalition with the Democrats. In June 2023, in the early parliamentary elections, Spajić's party had 27.620 in Podgorica with smaller coalition partners - almost ten thousand more.
PES achieved poor electoral results on two occasions in Budva, and in Nikšić on April 13 this year, it received 5.188 votes (five mandates). The party did not participate in the 2021 Nikšić elections, and in the national elections two years later, it had around 4.400 more votes in Nikšić, with smaller coalition allies, than in the recent local elections.
PES was founded in June 2022 by Spajić and the current President of Montenegro Jakov Milatovic, a few months after the fall of the so-called expert government Zdravka Krivokapića in which they were ministers. Milatović won the presidential elections in 2023, and PES won the parliamentary elections and took power in several cities, including Podgorica. Disagreements soon arose between the president and the prime minister, and Milatović resigned from all party positions in February last year, taking with him some of the membership. Members of the Podgorica PES board close to Milatović also resigned from all party positions, and in the local elections in September they ran as the Movement for Podgorica, which was in coalition with the Civic Movement URA and the Movement for Change.
Although both of them publicly denied it for a long time, disagreements between them began in February 2023, when Spajić decided to run for head of state, which he failed to do because it was determined that, in addition to Montenegrin, he also had Serbian citizenship, from which he later withdrew.
After that, in April 2023, the PES General Assembly decided, without Milatović, that the party would go to the national elections independently, which Spajić advocated, and not in a broader coalition, which was Milatović's idea.
There were also disagreements during the consideration of the electoral list ahead of the parliamentary elections, and afterwards, from the position of President of the state, Milatović criticized the composition of the new Government, the situation in the diplomatic network, several draft laws...
He invited Spajić to a meeting at the end of last year, but the two did not disclose the details of that meeting to the public.
In a New Year's interview with "Vijesti", Milatović did not rule out the possibility of the Movement for Podgorica growing into a party at the state level, nor the possibility of his return to PES, but he said that it was not his "primary" right now, nor that he had discussed it with the Prime Minister.
A period of truce followed, but Milatović then began to criticize PES again, mostly because of two agreements the government had with the United Arab Emirates, which envisaged "the largest investment in the history of the state."
What are the powers of the Executive Director and Secretary General of PES?
According to the PES Statute, the term of office of the executive director lasts four years and he is the president of the party's executive board.
He is responsible, among other things, for the establishment and termination of employment relationships, manages the assets of the PES, takes care of the material and financial operations of the party, drafts and proposes to the Executive Board the party's financial plan for the following year, and approves the creation of the seals of municipal boards.
When it comes to the Secretary General, his term also lasts four years, but he has the right to be re-elected.
He, among other things, takes care of the organizational strengthening of PES, the formation of an infrastructure network and coordinates the formation of municipal and local committees, coordinates the work and maintains regular communication with municipal organizations in order to expand the organizational and infrastructure network, participates in the creation and management of election and field campaigns.
Note: The first version of the text mistakenly stated that the PES membership is requesting that Nemanja Laković succeed Bojović in office, instead of Pejović.
Bonus video:
