Five years after the removal of the three-decade-long government of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), it is clear that the opportunity to create a better system and society was then open, but little good has been done in that regard, and Montenegro is still a country of politically captured institutions, identity divisions, dubious businesses... However, one of the rare positive consequences of August 30, 2020 is that it has been shown that any government can be overthrown in elections and that after that day it is no longer in the hands of the same group of people.
Thus, the editor-in-chief of the weekly "Monitor" Milena Perović and civic activist Stefan Djukic analyze the situation in Montenegro five years after the first change of government "with a pen".
While the current ruling majority claims that August 30th is the day of freedom and that since then citizens no longer wear the shackles of fear and clientelistic relationships, the opposition says that the government has captured institutions, that citizens have been deceived, and that, ultimately, a counter-revolution has occurred in 2020.
In the parliamentary elections held on the penultimate day of August of that year, the DPS was sent into opposition after 30 years of unchallenged rule. The then leader of the list of the "For the Future of Montenegro" (ZBCG) coalition and soon after the first prime minister in the post-DPS era of Montenegrin politics Zdravko Krivokapic he said on election night that "freedom happened."
He and the new authorities promised to break with the methods that, as many in Montenegro claim, the DPS used to stay in power for decades - abuse of the state apparatus, vote buying, party recruitment..., and that a new chapter of prosperity would be opened based on the "achievements of August 30th" and the work of the "August XNUMXth majority".
The first government was formed by the coalitions of the ZBCG (led by the former Democratic Front), "Peace is our nation - Aleksa Bečić and Miodrag Lekić" (Democrats, Demos and other smaller parties)" and "Black on White" (Civic Movement URA and the Citizens' Alliance CIVIS), but it lasted only a year and two months due to conflicts between the constituents.
The second executive branch was formed in early 2022, with minority support from DPS, by the leader of the Civic Movement URA. Dritan Abazovic, but it was even shorter-lived - it was demolished in the Parliament after only 113 days of work due to the fundamental agreement it signed with the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).
Third, the current government Milojko Spajić (Europe Now Movement), was elected on October 31, 2023, and consists, in addition to the Prime Minister's party, of the parties of the former Democratic Front, the Democrats, the Socialist People's Party, and some minority parties.
All three post-DPS executive governments are recognized for party-based hiring, abuse and politicization of institutions, violation of the Constitution and laws, scandals, decision-making behind closed doors... Political opponents accuse them of damaging relations with neighbors, spreading nationalism, and subservience to Belgrade and the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Although they promised this both before and immediately after the elections, the parties in the new government did not pass many progressive laws, the electoral reform was partially implemented, the voter register was not "cleaned", changes in the judiciary were not completed, the law on confiscation of illegally acquired property is pending... In many other fields, the "winners" continued to work according to the DPS "recipe", trampling on their long-standing promises.
However, after August 30, processes began that were unimaginable during the DPS era, such as the crackdown on organized crime and high-level corruption, the exposure of abuses in institutions, the improvement of citizens' living standards... There were arrests of former and recent top leaders and officials of the judiciary, police and security services, high-ranking members of criminal clans, embezzlement in state institutions and companies was discovered, record-breaking seizures of narcotics took place... However, many of these prosecutions were used for political promotion, so it will only be possible to talk about real results in the fight against crime and corruption when these cases reach court conclusions.
The fact that not everything is so bleak is evidenced by the unblocking and acceleration of the negotiation process with the European Union (EU), which has stagnated for years, as well as changes in the economic field, such as increasing salaries and pensions and restoring child allowances and benefits for mothers, although part of the public claims that some of these measures have led to inflation and collapsed the country's financial system.
Therefore, since the change on August 30, the question has been raised - is the state going in the right direction after the fall of DPS, how much better and "freer" life is, and whether party-political practices have taken so much hold that it actually doesn't matter who exercises power if everyone abuses it...
The doctrine that everyone is replaceable
Milena Perović told "Vijesti" that the state today is characterized by political control of institutions, showdowns with dissenters, political recruitment, arrogant use of the budget for privileges, identity issues and divisions, suspicious investors, secret agreements and deals. All of this, she says, is accompanied by a narrative about Montenegro as "the leader of European integration in the region."
"Sounds like DPS rule, doesn't it? Five years later, only the signs have changed," she says.
Perović claims that, "apart from the fact that there is a partitocracy at work in which the citizen loses his voice," it is particularly worrying that "we are also losing the citizen." He notes that dangerous ideologies of blood and soil, the same ones that brought about the "bloody nineties," today have political power in Montenegro.
"... The Serbian Orthodox Church and a large part of the government celebrate war criminals and Chetnik ideology, while the strongest opposition force is the same unreformed DPS during whose time war crimes cases were shoved into drawers, or demoted to the level of mere perpetrators in courts," she reminds.
The Serbian Orthodox Church and part of the government gathered around the ZBCG coalition, led by the head of the Assembly Andrija Mandić, have openly glorified the Chetnik movement that collaborated with the occupier in World War II in recent months, culminating in the unveiling of a monument to the notorious Chetnik commander. Pavlo Đurišić at the beginning of August in the Berane village of Gornje Zaostro, performed by the Metropolitan of Budimlje-Nikšić The method.
Perović says that, therefore, five years later, Montenegro needs reform forces and changes more than ever, and that since August 2020, all that remains is the doctrine that every government is subject to change.
That the DPS and its long-time boss Milo Djukanovic irreplaceable, it seemed, for several reasons. Primarily, because of the abuses with which they held all the reins of power in their hands. However, they lost their seats when the Law on Freedom of Religion was passed at the end of 2019, which led to months of protest marches by the Serbian Orthodox Church across the country, which were the catalyst for the defeat of the DPS on August 30.
The DPS then suffered a series of electoral defeats at all levels in the country, and soon afterwards experienced the biggest change in its history - Đukanović stepped down as party leader after being defeated in the 2023 presidential elections. Jakov MilatovićHe was succeeded by the leader of the younger generation of DPS. Danijel Zivkovic, who today claims that the party has learned where it went wrong.
Only the first step has been taken.
Stefan Đukić believes that, even though five years have passed since the change of government, the institutions are still at the same level, and that they essentially do not exist, but are just names used to explain certain buildings and the employees who work there, who are paid by citizens. He argues that an institution must mean something more - that it represents a value that citizens trust and are willing to turn to.
"There are exceptions, like the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT), just as there are developments in some other institutions, but I have no other opinion on the majority than that it's a sign stuck on a building," he told the newspaper.
SDT, headed by Vladimir Novović, began after the change of government to prosecute people who were "pillars" of the DPS regime - the former first woman in the judiciary Vesne Medenica, former head of the police Veselin Veljović, a former high-ranking security officer Zoran Lazović, former Chief Special Prosecutor Milivoj Katnić, former ministers Petar Ivanovic i Milutin Simović...
Many alleged members of criminal groups suspected of organizing international drug trafficking have also been arrested, as have members of the police and undercover agents who allegedly participated in it.
While most of these cases await court decisions, some important rulings have been made. Some of them are against the former director of the Police Directorate. Slavko Stojanović, who was sentenced in the first instance to three years and eight months in prison for admitting that he ordered a truck smuggling cigarettes to pass, and against the former special state prosecutor Lidija Mitrović who was sentenced to seven months in prison for abuse of official position for an extended period.
Đukić notes that the changes have provided "some satisfaction" to a large number of citizens, but that they have not fundamentally increased faith in democracy.
"The thing is that we don't feel like our vote is worth anything, that it has brought us any improvement, that we are better 'represented'. And this government, like the previous ones, when they encounter reactions that citizens feel they are not represented, they give the same answer - 'then you run for office'," he said.
At the end of July, the government and the opposition adopted amendments to the Law on the Election of Councilors and Representatives, by which they agreed that all local elections would be held on the same day in 2027. Although government representatives called these changes historic, they did not include some of the most important items that have been talked about for years, such as "cleaning" the voter list, open lists, direct election of mayors...
The "Vijesti" interlocutor notes that the new government is consciously forgetting, or rather denying, the fact that MPs are representatives of citizens, that they are there to be an extended arm of the people who elected them, and that this has produced two consequences.
"The first is the loss of trust in democracy as a system in Montenegro, because it is clearly not democratic but party-based; the second is somewhat more positive - that at least the power is not nailed down in the hands of the same people, and that they can change," Đukić stated, saying that the changes that took place on August 30th provide the possibility of a better system and society, but that apart from that first step - not much has been done.
"Symbol of freedom"
His opinion is not shared by the Deputy Prime Minister. Momo Koprivica (Democrats), who told the newspaper that August 30th symbolizes - freedom.
"A regime steeped in corruption, crime, and smuggling fell peacefully and in elections, leaving behind the murders of journalists, brave police officers, and the atrocities of the 'black troika', under which the former president of the Supreme Court sold verdicts, police directors allowed trucks with smuggled tobacco to pass, and police officers tortured members of one clan at the expense of another, all of which has been documented and is being tried today," he said, adding that the parties of the former regime, or today's opposition, have not renounced "that legacy in any way."
Koprivica states that after the changes in 2020, there was a liberation from fear and clientelistic relationships, which, according to him, have characterized the Montenegrin political system for decades.
"Citizens have begun to express their political views more freely, without fear of losing their jobs, social rights or other forms of pressure, especially in the public sector. After August 30, the government has not committed violence against journalists, today there are no scandals being staged through security and other state services against dissenters, the level of dependence of institutions on the political elite has drastically decreased...", he claims.
Freer expression of citizens' views can be seen, among other things, through the increasingly frequent blockades of roads across the country as a sign of protest due to dissatisfaction with the government's actions.
The interlocutor further says that institutions responsible for the rule of law, such as the SDT, the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption and others, act "truly completely independently of the political authorities", work according to the Constitution and the law, and not according to political directives, "as was the case until August 30", and that this is stated in numerous international reports.
"Is there any better confirmation of a qualitative change than the fact that before August 30th, tobacco smuggling was a protected and lucrative business for government officials and those associated with them, and today, with international partners, we are destroying the complete and enormous amount of smuggled tobacco that was left behind by the luminaries of the tobacco mafia in the most credible and documented way," Koprivica underlined.
He explains that these "positive effects" do not mean that all problems have disappeared, but that challenges still exist in institutional stability, polarization, judicial reforms, professionalization of public administration...
He adds that until August 30, the European route was "completely blocked", and that relevant international institutions have concluded that a "hybrid regime" is in force in Montenegro and that "endemic corruption" is flourishing.
"The extent to which they have lost their hearing for the voice of the citizens is also evidenced by the brutal attack on the most represented religious community, after which the processions began, which led to the people's victory over the regime," Koprivica notes.
The Law on Freedom of Religion stipulated that all religious buildings that were the property of the state of Montenegro before its forcible and unconstitutional unification with Serbia and then annexation to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918, and which were not later legally transferred to the ownership of a religious community, would be recognized as state property. This regulation was amended after the change of government, and later the property rights of the Serbian Orthodox Church were regulated by the signing of the Fundamental Agreement, which some in the public called unconstitutional, accusing Abazović of “betraying” the interests of Montenegro.
Koprivica estimates that citizens today - despite having inherited enormous problems - feel freer and more constructively participate in public life, criticism and decision-making, and the level of civic participation must certainly be further improved "with the aim of a more harmonious functioning of society."
"Significant progress has been made in the field of European integration, we received the IBAR (Report on the Assessment of the Fulfillment of Interim Benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24) and closed several chapters, which certainly leads to strengthening the position of citizens," he said.
Spajić's government closed four chapters, which was the first progress in negotiations with the EU since 2017. It promises to join the EU by 2028.
"General detoxification of institutions"
MP of DPS Aleksandra Vuković Kuč She said that the opposition status of every good politician and policy should make them understand, deepen their actions, point out mistakes made in government, and reduce their chances of returning to it, and that she is certain that this is the case with the party she is a part of.
He claims, however, that the current government shows that its long-standing opposition status has not developed a political culture and morality, and that the ruling party has "enslaved institutions with influence, ignorance, unprofessionalism and absolute partitocracy". He states that the characteristics of the current government are a "despotic attitude" towards media that is not owned by the government, an aggressive attitude towards non-governmental organizations and activists who have been fighting for human rights for years, nepotism in an almost obscene form, a nepotism-partner version of meritocracy...
He adds that the authorities are abusing the security sector to persecute dissenters, unquestioningly serving the Serbian Orthodox Church and the ideology promoted by the church, "without the courage to deal with the glorification and beatification" of war criminals whose statues are stored in Montenegrin monasteries.
"... The rampant chauvinism and nationalism, the strengthening of national parties that crown civil society, inappropriate relations with neighbors who have declared three leaders of the government as undesirable persons, the subordination of state interests to narrow party interests, the destruction of the economic and investment fabric of the Montenegrin economy, the media's realityization, the illegal vetting of political stormtroopers for whom only their court is a just court and only the prosecutor's office under their baton is a desirable prosecutor's office," are some of the examples highlighted by the "Vijesti" interviewee.
By inappropriate relations with neighbors, the interviewee primarily means relations with Croatia. At the end of July last year, after the Montenegrin parliament adopted a resolution on genocide in the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen concentration camps, that country declared Mandić, the Deputy Prime Minister, Aleks Bečić (Democrats) and leaders and deputies of the Democratic People's Party Milan Knežević for the undesirables.
Vuković Kuč notes that, all in all, institutions are more dependent and more subordinate to the government than ever before and that they need a "general detoxification".
"Five years later, it is clear that on August 30, 2020, a counter-revolution was carried out against civil and secular society in Montenegro, with the aim of demodernizing and de-emancipating Montenegro," she says.
Koprivica: Limited monopoly of one party over political narrative
Momo Koprivica claims that in the period after 2020, the political scene has become "more pluralistic", with more different political options that have "access to the media and institutions".
"This limited the monopoly of one party over the political narrative, which had a positive impact on the democratic capacity of society and the greater power of the citizens' voice."
He said that in "this sensitive and challenging time" there is a need for more purposeful channeling of social energy, more inclusive discussions on all issues, and a broader social dialogue.
"These are methods that will surely lead the country to a prosperous future and make it more resilient."
Vuković Kuč: Montenegro in a historical crisis and facing moral collapse
Aleksandra Vuković Kuč says that the government has deceived citizens "who have never stopped believing in Montenegro's European perspective."
"The EU has lowered the criteria for our integration, but the government has raised bad practices and anti-European policies to the highest level. This government is embarrassing us domestically and internationally, all under the guise of liberation and democracy. Citizens have been deceived and humiliated."
He states that the government has "fallen back" from last year's 92 percent of fulfilled obligations to the EU to 65 percent this year, "just when we expect more intensive work and regular delivery of obligations before the alleged end of negotiations."
"A few days ago, the European Parliament rapporteur for Montenegro, Marjan Šarec, pointed out the bad moves of the authorities that are slowing down our integration. Montenegro is in a historical crisis and facing moral collapse, because kakistocracy is the hallmark of the ruling clique. Put an equal sign between the Montenegrin government in 2025 and the brutal shaming of a political calling."
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