PES: The solution must rest on accountability, a stable majority and defined relations between parliament and mayors

Any solution must be based on clear political responsibility, a stable majority, and precisely defined relations between the Capital City Assembly and the mayor, the Europe Now Movement announced, requesting additional clarifications on the model that the Preokret Movement submitted to the Podgorica parliament members.

The strongest ruling party points out that, given the initiative that Preokret submitted to the councilors of the Capital City Assembly, which proposes a model for, as Preokret claims, preserving the functionality of Podgorica and preventing the introduction of compulsory administration, they consider it necessary to obtain additional clarifications about the political, institutional and practical consequences of the proposed concept before making any statement.

"The Europe Now Movement is interested in the stable and responsible functioning of the Capital City, guided exclusively by the interests of the citizens of Podgorica. That is precisely why we believe that any solution must be based on clear political responsibility, a stable majority, and precisely defined relations between the Capital City Assembly and the mayor," they said.

In this regard, they asked Preokret to answer the following questions:

- Does their concept, as in all democratic systems, imply the existence of a clear parliamentary majority that would take responsibility for managing the Capital, or is it based on changing, ad hoc and fluid majorities from item to item on the agenda?

- If the proposed model is based on variable majorities, who in that case bears political and institutional responsibility for the direction of the Capital City?

- Are they open to the possibility that relations between political entities that would support their concept, including issues of majority, responsibility, and stability, could be defined by a coalition or other written agreement?

- With which political entities are they considering the implementation of the SVG concept and have they formalized the initiative to support that model with representatives of the DPS, the European Union, URA and SEP?

- If their candidate were formally supported by signatures, and then elected by the votes of councilors who advocate for the removal of the current mayor, how would they qualify such a situation — as a technical solution, a new majority, or a political reshuffle?

- Do they consider a sustainable model in which the mayor would be responsible for implementing unsustainable decisions made by informal and changing majorities, without taking responsibility for those who vote on such decisions?

"Also, bearing in mind that the election of the President of the Capital City Assembly requires a majority of 30 councilors, and that the Europe Movement now has 8 councilors, please inform us additionally when you formally secure the support of at least 22 councilors from other political entities for your concept through signatures, especially if the implementation of your initiative will depend on the support of PES councilors," they said.

They add that, before their councilors' caucus makes a decision, they need answers to the Preokret initiative, because they believe that responsible governance of the Capital cannot be based on a model in which one majority would elect the President of the Assembly, another majority would make key decisions, a third majority would block the work of the executive branch, and political responsibility for the consequences of such a situation would be shifted to the mayor.

"Such a model would not represent stabilization, but could open up space for permanent institutional instability, political blackmail, and decision-making that would intentionally or unintentionally make the work of the mayor and city administration more difficult. In such circumstances, the mayor would be obliged to implement decisions for which there is no clear political responsibility of those who voted for them, while the consequences of any harmful decisions would be attributed to him and the executive branch. Therefore, we cannot ignore the fear that behind any unclear governance model, under the guise of unblocking the Assembly and caring for the functionality of the city, space could actually be opened up for blocking the work of the mayor, regardless of which political entity he comes from. The Europe Now Movement remains open to discussing any solution that leads to stability, functionality, and the protection of the interests of the citizens of Podgorica," they conclude.