According to the assessments of the DPS and the European Union, after three years of governing the city, the local government in Pljevlja has brought the municipality to a state of complete dysfunctionality, financial exhaustion and institutional decline, while political conflicts and the fight for positions have become the dominant preoccupation of the ruling majority.
The statement from the DPS Municipal Board states that PES and Democrats, although a constituent part of the government together with DF, only after three years of collapsing local self-government, failure to fulfill budget obligations, degrading the reputation of local institutions and businesses, wasting citizens' money, nationalistic outbursts and compromising previously successfully established projects, announced that this way of governing the city is not sustainable.
DPS assesses that it is clear to everyone that local government has entered its final phase, and that citizens today, in addition to the arrogance and irresponsibility of local officials, are witnessing mutual accusations from coalition partners, who are trying to blame each other for, as they state, the catastrophic state of management of the Municipality, its finances, institutions and companies.
According to DPS, it can be concluded from the statements of PES and Democrats that these parties are trying to absolve themselves of responsibility and shift the blame to DF and NSD, respectively, even though they themselves actively participated in the exercise of power. DPS adds that it remains to be seen how long such a strategy will last, especially in light of public messages and, as they state, "warm statements" sent by Milan Lekić.
The statement further states that it is uncertain what will happen with the demands for talks within the government, which, according to the ruling parties, should improve relations between the coalition partners, and which the Mayor Dario Vraneš, as they claim, is persistently ignoring. DPS ironically assesses that the real negotiations are being conducted in the party headquarters, under the code name "Toplifikacija vlasti u Pljevlja", where, as they say, the fate of the current Mayor of the Municipality and the new distribution of functions in the Mine, the Thermal Power Plant and the Municipality are being negotiated.
Concluding the first statement, DPS points out that it was only after three years of joint power that PES and Democrats came to the conclusion that the situation in Pljevlja was unsustainable, although, as they state, citizens recognized this already after the first personnel appointments in the local self-government system, from management boards and secretaries of the secretariat to the mayor.
In its statement, the European Union also states that the latest government crisis in Pljevlja has completely exposed the incompetence of the ruling coalition, while the city faces numerous problems - from environmental, to social, to demographic - and the fight for seats remains a key priority for the parties in power.
The European Union reminds that last year Pljevlja was also an infamous record holder in terms of emigration, the number of births and deaths, and that young people are not leaving only because of environmental pollution and the lack of cultural, sports and entertainment content, but also because of the environment in which, as they state, nationalism is strengthening under the rule of Dario Vraneš, while all other segments of society are declining.
The statement assesses that the role of political actors who remained silent about this situation while they were part of the government, and now do not attend the sessions of the Parliament because, as they claim, their functions are at stake, is particularly shameful. The European Union points out that Pljevlja does not have an adopted budget, that problems are piling up, while the government's priority is a new distribution of functions, rather than resolving key issues for citizens.
Finally, the European Union says that the most honest thing would be to return the mandate to the citizens and call elections, in order to judge the work of the current government, with the assessment that the fight for party employment, rigging tenders and trading in influence has become the dominant motive for the actions of the ruling majority, which, as they claim, is avoiding elections because it is aware of the loss of citizens' support.
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