The Europe Now Movement (PES) will soon submit an initiative to dismiss the first man of Bijelo Polje Petar Smolović (Democratic Party of Socialists).
This was told to "Vijesti" by a PES councilor in the Bijelo Polje parliament. Drazen Petrić, stating that the initiative will be submitted after its text is agreed with coalition partners, or rather, with their local opposition colleagues.
PES will, as Petrić announced, "intensify dialogue" with them about this in the coming days.
The reason for the initiative announced a month ago at the Bijelo Polje Municipal Assembly (MA) session, according to Petrić, is that Smolović has not done "anything worth mentioning" for the municipality in northern Montenegro during his mandate, which has lasted since 2017.
"He had no vision for the economic environment, and the municipality has regressed in terms of the local government development index," the PES councilor assessed.
Petrić said that the initiative should be understood as "a call for dialogue about missed economic opportunities."
"We consider what we have witnessed in recent days - that the Municipality has not nominated projects for the capital budget - to be a sufficient reason for the initiative to receive support from all councilors, because the Mayor is solely responsible for this (the fact that projects have not been nominated). He has been using the mantra for years - 'everyone is to blame for everything except me', and in practice we see that sabotage comes from his side. This is classic politicking, which needs to be stopped if we want our municipality to embark on a new path of development," he said.
Petrić stated that the announcement of the initiative was met with positive reactions from the public, who, he claims, share PES's concern "that we are not moving in the right direction", and who "consider political changes necessary, because the local government has had enough time to show what it knows, and results have been lacking at every turn".
The Bijelo Polje government - consisting of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Bosniak Party (BS), the Social Democrats and the Social Democratic Party - has 19 councilors, and the opposition - consisting of PES, the former Democratic Front, the Democrats, the Civic (GP) Movement URA, the Socialist People's Party and United Montenegro - has 18.
This means that PES, with the support of its opposition colleagues with whom they are part of the state government (except for GP URA and Ujedinjena), needs the support of one opposition councilor for the initiative to “pass”. They could seek it from BS, which is also part of the government. However, that party has not yet commented on the planned initiative.
The BS told the editorial staff that they could not do this because the initiative had not been submitted to the Municipal Assembly procedure.
"When we become familiar with its content, the BS bodies will certainly make a decision, and after that our councilors' club will also express its position," said the president of the Bijelo Polje BS and the Minister of Regional Investment Development and Cooperation with Non-Governmental Organizations. Ernad Suljević.
BS's partners in the state government have repeatedly pressured the party to end cooperation with DPS in Bijelo Polje, with which it has been in power in that city since 2018. BS's Entry into the Government Milojko Spajić (PES) in the summer of 2024, was conditioned by the promise to “break away” from DPS. However, more than a year after the restructuring of the executive branch, BS is still in coalition with DPS in the largest municipality in the north.
The Democrats' councilors' club say that the Municipality of Bijelo Polje needs a serious change in governance, and that Smolović no longer has the political capacity or the trust of citizens to perform that function responsibly and in the interests of all.
"In the past period, the public, local communities and political entities have pointed out a number of serious problems in the functioning of local government. First of all, we express concern about the non-transparent conduct in the implementation of capital projects and recurring doubts about the selection of subcontractors (works). We believe that every project of public importance must be implemented with complete openness and equal treatment of all economic entities, which is not the case now," the Democrat councilor told "Vijesti". Marko Djukic.
He also stated that citizens of local communities are increasingly speaking out about "a selective approach to asphalting rural roads from the state budget."
"Instead of balanced development, we are witnessing a practice that, according to many citizens, depends on political affiliation and pressure, which deepens the differences between communities that have been neglected for years," claims Đukić.
According to him, the necessity of the initiative to dismiss Smolović has been confirmed in the meantime by the vote on the capital investment plan for 2026, which, he says, does not foresee any new projects of strategic importance for Bijelo Polje.
"This is a clear indication that the local government has no vision for development, nor the ability to prepare and implement projects that would create new jobs, improve infrastructure and stop the exodus of young people," Đukić stated, referring to the quarry case that was pointed out by the residents of Srđevac. They claim that the process of opening the quarry by Smolović's brother's company was illegal.
"This model of governance has led to a decline in citizens' trust and the stagnation of our municipality. Bijelo Polje must not be held hostage to inefficiency, poor planning and narrow party interests. We need a responsible, transparent and modern local administration that works for all citizens equally. Because of all the above, the Democrats believe that it is time for Smolović to give way to a new, more responsible and capable administration that will move Bijelo Polje from a dead end and restore trust in institutions," Đukić underlined.
DPS told "Vijesti" that the initiative announced was a legitimate request.
"As a party, we will make a statement when we receive the initiative and become familiar with its content," said the DPS councilor. Elvir Zvrko.
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