Milatović: New call for Constitutional Court judge by the end of the week, parties are calculating too much

Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović said today that, by the end of the week, when he receives official notification from the Parliament, he will announce a new call for a judge of the Constitutional Court, and that he will propose a candidate for the position of Desanka Lopičić by the end of the week.

He told reporters after a briefing titled "Montenegro Must Accelerate", held at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Montenegro in Podgorica.

The head of state thanked all MPs who voted for the candidate he proposed, Mirjana Vučinić, adding that she received broad support from "political entities in power and the opposition."

"I would especially like to thank, I think there were seven of them, the MPs from the Europe Now Movement (PES) who rose above some petty party interests and showed a responsible attitude during the elections," he said.

Speaking about the change in the voting schedule, Milatović pointed out that it was a matter of "calculations".

He explained that "too much time is spent on calculations", and that if "that time were spent on solving problems, we would very quickly be at the level of Luxembourg".

Milatović said that he had proposed a candidate who met all the criteria, but that she "only did not receive the support of the Bosniak Party and the Democrats" and that this "speaks about them".

"I would call on all those who talk to us every day about European integration and the rule of law to move from words to deeds," he stressed.

The head of state said that he expected responsibility from all PES deputies "which was absent".

"It seems to me that yesterday, during the vote, there were several PES MPs who abstained or did not vote. That is why I wanted to thank those MPs who went beyond the party directive and showed a statesmanlike attitude," he said.

Milatović said that "judges are not elected because of Ursula von der Leyen, but because of the citizens of Montenegro."

"It's not Ursula von der Leyen who lives in Montenegro, it's the citizens. I answer to them," he said.

However, he added that in the two and a half years of the government's existence, four chapters have been closed, which is not fast enough.

"I sincerely hope that we will close five chapters in December and that we will bring that level of chapters to number 12, which is necessary to begin drafting the agreement. You know that I have called on all European leaders to start with that, to show goodwill on their part as well. But you see what is happening in the country. Constantly some kind of obstruction, process, insufficient political will, snail's pace," Milatović assessed.

In the second round of voting, after the unsuccessful first round a month and a half ago, the Parliament yesterday elected Jovan Jovanović as a judge of the Constitutional Court, while the remaining two candidates, Mirjana Radović and Mirjana Vučinić, did not receive the support necessary to hold the same position.

The court that protects constitutionality and legality had four judges until yesterday - out of the seven that it should have. With the election of Jovanović, their number increased to five, but only briefly, because the term of Judge Desanka Lopičić expires at the end of the year, so there will be four again. With that number of judges, the Constitutional Court is not blocked and can decide, but in that case it needs all four judges to vote in the same way.

Until yesterday, the judge of the Higher Court in Podgorica, Jovan Jovanović, had 50 votes in favor, one against, while three MPs abstained.

All government representatives except the Bosniak Party (BS) - the Europe Now Movement (PES), New Serbian Democracy (NSD), Democratic People's Party (DNP), Democrats, Socialist People's Party (SNP), Albanian Forum, Albanian Alliance and CIVIS - voted for him, as well as opposition representatives Mehmet Zenka (Democratic Union of Albanians), Vladimir Dobričanin (United Montenegro), and independent MPs Radinka Ćinćur and Jevrosima Pejović.

Admir Adrović (BS) was against, while his party colleagues Kenana Strujić Harbić, Amer Smailović and Edina Dešić abstained. BS previously announced that it would not support any candidate because it demands that at least one judge of the Constitutional Court be a member of the Bosniak people.

Mirjana Radović was supported by 47 members of parliament, two were against, and three abstained. All government members, except for BS and Dobricanin, voted for her election. Adrović and Nikola Zirojević (Social Democrats) were against, and Strujić Harbić, Smailović, and Dešić abstained.

45 MPs voted for the election of lawyer Mirjana Vučinić, 11 abstained, and none were against.

She was voted for by 11 out of 17 MPs from the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which announced its support for the candidate ahead of the vote. However, DPS leader Danijel Živković, the head of the party's parliamentary group Andrija Nikolić, and MPs Oskar Huter, Zoja Bojanić Lalović, Abaz Dizdarević, and Sonja Popović were not present in the assembly hall at the time of the decision.

All three Social Democrats (SD) MPs, Miloš Konatar from the Civic Movement (GP) URA, Adrijan Vuksanović (Croatian Civic Initiative), Dobričanin, Zenka, Ćinćur and Pejović, also "raised their hands" for Vučinić.

Vučinić also received support from part of the ruling majority - all NSD MPs Andrija Mandić and DNP Milan Knežević, SNP and Albanian Forum MPs, Albanian Alliance MP Ilir Čapuni and CIVIS MP Maja Vučelić, as well as part (six out of 20) of PES representatives - Miloš Pižurica, Miodrag Laković, Seid Hadžić, Dragana Vučević, Milan Zečević and Dane Marković.

Abstaining, along with three BS MPs, were PES members Gordan Stojović, Tonći Janović, Vladimir Bakrač, Armen Šehović, Branka Marković, Darko Dragović, Jelenka Andrić and Dražen Petrić.

PES representatives Vasilije Čarapić, Uglješa Urošević, Boris Pejović, Jovan Subotić, Jelena Nedović and Nađa Laković, as well as the Democrats, who resent the lawyer for representing the company "Bemaks", did not participate in the vote for Vučinić.