The head of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) parliamentary group, Andrija Nikolić, said today in the Parliament of Montenegro that the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro for Foreign and European Affairs, Filip Ivanović, is aspiring to be a "sultan instead of a sultan" in the Europe Now Movement (PES).
"During the recent POSP session, EU officials clearly confirmed that laws passed here must first be coordinated with the European Commission (EC). It is clear to everyone that your government, by adopting the Law on the National Security Agency (ANSA) and internal affairs, has consciously acted contrary to these principles," Nikolić pointed out.
He asked Ivanovic how the government plans to secure the two-thirds majority necessary to adopt constitutional amendments.
"At a time when we are facing key constitutional changes regarding the judiciary, which require a two-thirds majority, your government has created a crisis and has been left without the capacity to form that majority in parliament. How does the government plan to ensure further progress in negotiations with the EU, if we know that you have excluded the opposition from that process and that you do not have the capacity to secure a two-thirds majority?" Nikolić asked.
Ivanovic responded that Nikolic would be smarter to watch Iznogude in his own ranks, instead of worrying about PES.
"Regarding the Law on the National Security Agency and Internal Affairs, you called them controversial, because you made them that way. As the opposition, you had the right not to vote for them, but I think your reaction was exaggerated. We heard from the EC that these laws are not harmonized in certain parts, but that this will be done. I don't know why the DPS has such a problem with these laws, what a fear they are of them," said Ivanovic.
Speaking about the two-thirds majority, he said that there is no anti-European parliamentary group in the Parliament.
"Everyone here is in favor of EU membership. Everyone said they contributed to the reforms and the adoption of laws. Are you now announcing to the entire public that DPS will not vote for something important in Chapter 23, or that when those issues come on the agenda, you will not support it?", Nikolić asked.
Nikolić then said that Ivanovic avoided a direct answer to his question.
"We have received information that you are not behaving in a European manner and that you do not need Brussels' opinion regarding certain laws, which infringe on human rights themselves and which are on the verge of constitutionality. It will not be the case that the matter here depends on the DPS and that in the end the question will be raised who is to blame. I asked if you would try to fix the problem you caused, and not shift the responsibility onto us," Nikolić pointed out.
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