Stojović: I was never a member of DPS, until 2023 I only had a membership card of the Liberal Alliance

Europe Now Movement (PES) MP Gordan Stojović said that he had never been a member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), and that until 2023 he only held a membership card of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro.

As he stated in a post on X, when someone runs out of arguments, they usually "reach for labels, insinuations, and recycling the same untruths."

"It may produce a few headlines or comments on social media, but it cannot change the facts. So let's start with the facts. There is no greater mockery of European values ​​than the attempt to wage a political struggle through interest networks, privileges and structures that have burdened Montenegrin society for decades. It is an even greater mockery when those who have remained silent for years on phenomena that are today the subject of serious public debate suddenly pretend to be European authorities and arbiters of political decency," he said, adding that it is particularly interesting when lessons about European standards are shared at "party gatherings organized in facilities whose owners or users have been the subject of numerous controversies, media articles and public polemics for years."

Stojović points out that "citizens have the right to ask whether such places are truly a symbol of the European political culture to which we supposedly aspire."

"The same goes for stories about 'free' benefits. In politics, nothing is free. Sometimes it's official phones, sometimes the latest Samsung devices, sometimes services, and sometimes political support. Someone always ends up paying the bill, it's just a question of who and when. Unlike many who are trying to rewrite their biographies today, I have no need to give up any part of my political or professional journey," he said.

As he points out, "he has never worked against the interests of Montenegro and never will."

"Everything I did, I did publicly, under my own name, without hiding behind functions, privileges or centers of power. Montenegro is not a political project for me, nor a means to achieve personal ambitions. It is the only country I belong to. That is why I would work for its interests even if I were not paid for it. It is not a question of function, but of conviction. Since the same untruth is persistently being spread, let us be completely clear: I have never been a member of the DPS. Never. There is no membership card, there is no record, there is no document that can confirm this for the simple reason that such a document does not exist. Therefore, I call on all those who have been repeating this construction for months and years to do a very simple thing – show proof. Not a comment, a screen shot, a word-not gossip, not a political wish, but proof. In accordance with the statute of the party they are talking about. One single valid document. Until then, all their claims have the same weight as any other political fabrication that serves to obscure the essence of the debate. The only membership card I owned until 2023 "it was a membership card of the Liberal Alliance of Montenegro. I have kept it since 1993. I am proud of that fact today as much as I was then. Proud of the idea of ​​a free, civil, European and independent Montenegro that that policy represented back when it was much more difficult than it is today," he said.

Stojović adds that he "makes a clear distinction between voters and the DPS leadership."

"Thousands of honest citizens voted for DPS for various reasons, and among them I have many friends, acquaintances, and people whom I sincerely respect. I have never divided people according to party affiliations and I will not start now. But I also have every right to criticize those individuals who have used political positions for years to gain privileges, who have remained silent in the face of obvious deviations in the system, and who are today trying to present themselves as moral authorities. Especially when their political courage ends where personal interests begin," he said.

"I am proud of all my friends. In Podgorica, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Belgrade, Zagreb, Brussels, Washington and anywhere else. I am proud of my friendship with Jovan Ratković as much as I am of every other friend I have made throughout my life. People are not divided by the city they live in, but by the character they carry. Friendships are neither a political nor a geographical category," concludes Stojović.