Former multiple president and prime minister of Montenegro and honorary president of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Milo Đukanović, assessed that the epilogue of the "Coup d'état" case sent a dangerous message to the enemies of the state that Montenegro does not have an institutional shield or a government loyal to the state.
Speaking at the panel "Twenty Years of the Restoration of Montenegrin Independence: A Conversation with the Protagonists", organized by the Montenegrin Helsinki Committee, Đukanović indicated that this is a "serious alarm" that he constantly thinks about for the future of Montenegro, reports Pobjeda.
Saying that the question is whether the current government has the integrity to make decisions and protect national interests, he assessed that in Montenegro today there is no clear responsibility for decision-making and that the state practically functions through three governments.
"Today, no one takes responsibility for decision-making, you have chaos and you don't have a government. That is, you have three governments, one that takes care of integration and what the Ministry of Finance takes care of, another that takes care of arresting as many Montenegrins as possible, and a third government where the speaker of parliament deals with national engineering," said Đukanović.
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Speaking about the political situation after the restoration of independence in 2006, he stated that the then sovereignist movement was based on civic, not mono-national, energy, with a clear vision of the country's European and Euro-Atlantic future.
According to him, Montenegro must not underestimate "Greater Serbian pretensions", which, he believes, can only be neutralized by strengthening the internal capacities of the state.
"Citizens have given legitimacy to this nationalism and given it a boost in the next elections," he said.
Djukanovic pointed out that unlike other sovereignist movements in the region, which, as he said, were marked by mono-national energy, in Montenegro it was civic energy.
"From day one, we said that we knew what our future would be and that it would be European and Euro-Atlantic," the former head of state added.
Đukanović also addressed the S.Č. affair, repeating the claims he made recently in an interview, that this and other affairs that marked his rule were fabricated by the services.
He also referred to the political split with former coalition partner Ranko Krivokapić and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), which he claims was motivated by careerist ambitions, which led to the breakup of that party.
"As for Ranko Krivokapić, I still have respect for the SDP for everything we went through together. The last straw for me was in 2015. You will remember the tent camp in front of the parliament. That was the exact moment when Krivokapić and the SDP entered into opposition to the government of which he is a part... When we sanitized the revolution on the street, I immediately said that we were going to the Parliament to place the trust in the government that we received thanks to a positive Montenegro. I knew all along that such a change in SDP policy was motivated by incredible careerist ambition," said the honorary president of the DPS.
Commenting on relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church and the case of the installation of the facility on Rumija, he said that in its installation the church had "more than logistical support" from the Yugoslav Army, "and we know who commanded that army", and that he discussed everything with the late Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović and that those conversations were "long and meaningful".
"Everything we did with the Serbian Orthodox Church was crystal clear and crystal public. Metropolitan Amfilohije was suspected in Serbia of having completely sold out to Milo, and there was not a word about it. We also found out about the Rumija case when the tin church came down on her," he said.
Đukanović stated that during his last talks with Amfilohije, he insisted on the issue of the restoration of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, claiming that he did not receive an answer as to why its autocephaly would be harmful to Orthodoxy, while the deceased metropolitan reproached him for his atheism.
The former head of state said that Amfilohije told him at the time that Montenegro was a small state and could not survive outside of a pan-Serbian and pan-Orthodox context.
"I received two political responses and confirmation of the role of the Serbian Orthodox Church. No matter how hard Metropolitan Amfilofije tried to deny independent Montenegro, my conclusion is that he was a typical Montenegrin," concluded Đukanović.
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