Nikolić: The government is escaping responsibility through "silence" in parliament and telephone government sessions

According to an analysis by the Center for Civic Education, the DPS parliamentary group is the most active in the Parliament of Montenegro with more than 201 hours of speeches in the plenary session, announced the head of the group, Andrija Nikolić, at today's press conference, accusing the government of evading responsibility through "silence" in parliament and telephone sessions of the Government.

Nikolić said at the conference that they are not here to brag about statistics, nor to read percentages.

"The independent analysis of the Center for Civic Education, which covers the period from the constitution of this convocation of the Parliament until March of this year, has taken the masks off the Montenegrin political scene. The numbers are relentless. The Democratic Party of Socialists parliamentary group spoke in the plenum for over 201 hours, which makes us by far the most active parliamentary group in the Parliament of Montenegro. And these are not just hours of speech. These are hours of exposing the ignorance of the current government and hours of political struggle for a better Montenegro," said Nikolić.

According to him, every minute at the podium "was a rebellion against bad laws, against secret borrowing, against trampling on the Constitution of this country, and a contribution to Montenegro's progress on its European path."

"Let's take a look at those who lead the country today. We see their relationship with citizens on two levels – in the Parliament and in the Government. The first level is the Parliament. The ruling majority, led by the Europe Now Movement, spoke two and a half times less than us, and they have three more MPs. Their entire parliamentary group has 80 hours. And now pay attention to this fact – you have MPs from the government who spoke for exactly 15 minutes in their three-year mandate," he said.

Nikolić added that this is not only disrespect for the institution of Parliament, but also disrespect for the citizens who pay them.

"The citizens did not elect you to sit, be silent and vote according to the directive. They elected you to speak about their problems and to solve their problems. The second level is the Government of Montenegro. And here we come to complete absurdity. Prime Minister Spajić promised us the 'Switzerland of the Balkans' in the election campaign. And what did he deliver to us? He delivered to us the most cumbersome Government in the history of Montenegro! Just compare: Switzerland, a country of almost nine million inhabitants, has a Government of seven ministers. China, with one billion and four hundred million people, has 24 ministers. And the Montenegrin government of Milojko Spajić, with 620 thousand inhabitants, has a Government of 33 members! Seven vice-presidents, twenty-five ministries and a minister without portfolio," said Nikolić.

Nikolić pointed out that official CCE data shows that over 60 percent of Government sessions were held electronically or by telephone.

"Last year alone, out of 127 sessions, as many as 83 were telephone sessions. This means that decisions about your lives, about the budget, about institutions, are made via Viber and WhatsApp messages. Without debate, without confronting arguments, without publicly available minutes. This is a government that sits at home or in a restaurant, a government that travels, and a government that rules by phone. Why are they silent in the Parliament and why are they hiding behind telephone sessions of the Government? The answer is very simple. When you have no results, when you have no vision, when you do not know how to lead the country, and when you have no arguments to defend policy - then the only thing left for you is to hide. Their silence is capitulation to what the responsibility of their functions entails," he added.