The opening of the reconstructed King Nikola's Castle, which was organized by the first man of Bar at the end of July Dušan Raičević (Democratic Party of Socialists), has once again exposed the turbulence in the local government, as the ceremony took place without officials and coalition partners from the Social Democrats (SD). They decided not to appear due to dissatisfaction with Raičević's attitude towards the Cultural Center, which is run by their staff, but also because the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage has not yet completed the handover of the works on the castle.
The ceremony was not attended by the President of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Bar (and the Member of the State Parliament) Branislav Nenezić, director of the cultural center Aleksandra Grabež, whose institution manages the Castle, secretaries of the secretariat in the Municipality of Bar and councilors from the SD, the party that, together with Raičević's DPS, governs the city under Rumija. However, the event was attended by representatives of the rest of the Bar government - from the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party (LP).
Although the SD leadership in Bar did not want to officially speak to “Vijesti” about their failure to appear, a source from the newspaper from that party said that they decided to make this move because they did not want to “give legitimacy” to Raičević because of his relationship with the Public Institution Cultural Center. The source explained that from the beginning of the multi-million-dollar castle reconstruction project, Raičević wanted to take on most of the responsibilities, as well as the credit, so they considered it appropriate “that that evening also belongs to him”.
He also claims that some of them were invited to the ceremony, others were not, and that they were given the explanation that "the emails in the municipality were not working."
As another reason for their absence from the event, the source states that the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Property at the Ministry of Culture and Media did not hand over the works on this protected cultural property, which was confirmed to the editorial office by the competent ministry. The SD believes that this means that the procedure was not followed.
Another source from the SD, however, says that their officials may have been "on vacation, walking by the sea" and that "people have obligations."
Their absence was particularly highlighted during Raičević's speech when he greeted the "former directors of the Cultural Center", not the current director, although he did thank the "colleagues" from the Cultural Center among those who participated in the project, which was funded exclusively by the Municipality of Bar with more than two million euros.
They called by phone, there were no omissions
Raičević's office rejected claims of any omission, especially of local officials, and told "Vijesti" that on Friday, July 17, in the morning, they sent invitations to numerous guests to attend the ceremonial opening of the renovated King Nikola's Castle.
Bearing in mind that this is a unique cultural facility, as they state, the invitation was extended to a large number of officials, recognized personalities and cultural workers of that city.
For this reason, they claim, there could be no question of leaving anyone out, since this was the opening ceremony of a “cultural and historical jewel of inestimable importance” for Bar and Montenegro. They emphasize that the circumstance they could not influence was the interruption in the work of the email server, which, they claim, occurred on Sunday, July 19, due to “challenges with the installation of a new SSL email certificate.”
The aforementioned outage, they add, lasted until Monday (July 20), at 5:30 p.m., when, "thanks to the efforts of IT service employees, by installing certificates on two of the four servers, the system was restored to basic functionality, and the following day it was fully stabilized."
"Given the aforementioned aggravating circumstance, on Monday, July 20th (opening night), in the morning hours, we began calling guests by phone and we are pleased to note that the ceremonial opening of this exceptional cultural building in our city, despite the technical challenge, was ultimately attended by over 400 guests," the Bar administration told the newspaper.
When asked how the mayor interprets this move by the coalition partners from the Municipality of Bar, they said that they "are not aware of, nor do they want to interpret, the individual reasons for the absence."
The Cultural Center, the institution that manages the Castle as a Homeland Museum, did not respond to "Vijesti" as to why representatives of the Cultural Center and Director Grabež did not attend or participate in the opening ceremony, whether they were invited, or whether there is a problem in the cooperation between the Cultural Center and the Municipality of Bar.
Just informed the management
Raičević announced on the Day of the Municipality of Bar - 24 November last year that the Castle would be opened in the "next three months", which would mean in February this year. "Vijesti" in the meantime wrote, based on information from the Municipality of Bar and the Cultural Centre, that the works had been completed, but that the museum exhibits were still being moved and the Directorate for the Protection of Cultural Heritage was waiting to receive the works. However, it turned out that the Castle was opened before the completion of that obligation, which annoyed Raičević's colleagues from the SD.
From the Ministry of Culture and Media, headed by Tamara Vujović (Democrats) confirmed to the newspaper that the handover of the works has not been completed, and that the process is in procedure and that they cannot predict its outcome.
The government department said that they were informed in communication from the competent Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property that the works on that cultural property were carried out in accordance with the Main Revised Reconstruction Project, which during its implementation was aligned with the applicable legal procedures prescribed by the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property and regulations governing the construction of facilities, as well as in accordance with the Interior Conservation Project, and that all necessary approvals from the competent Administration for the Protection of Cultural Property were obtained for the aforementioned project documentation.
They state that the works were reported to the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, and that after the completion of the works, the Municipality of Bar timely submitted a request to the Administration for the Protection of Cultural Heritage for acceptance of the works, along with complete supporting documentation prescribed by law.
"The case is currently in the regular procedure and is in the review phase, which is why, as the Administration told us, it is not possible at this moment to predict the outcome of the procedure or to give an assessment before its completion," the ministry said.
The Ministry of Culture and Media did not receive an invitation to attend the opening ceremony, but they say that "regardless of the Municipality's position", they carry out their activities exclusively within the framework of legally prescribed competencies, which is also the case when it comes to the rehabilitation of this significant segment of Montenegrin cultural heritage, "with the clear goal of prioritizing the improvement of the condition, protection, and preservation of all cultural assets of Montenegro".
After the completion of the works acceptance procedure, they emphasized, the public will be informed in a timely manner by the competent Administration.
The Municipality of Bar, responding to the editorial team's questions about this procedure, said that at the end of February they sent an official notification to the Administration about the completion of the reconstruction and conservation works of the King Nikola's Castle.
They claim they received the response on March 5th, and in accordance with Article 108 of the Law on the Protection of Cultural Property, they were also provided with a final report on completed works, a report on conservation supervision, or professional supervision for immovable cultural property.
"Therefore, we are confident that the project was completed in compliance with all conservation measures, with a high degree of transparency that we presented to the public during the implementation of the project itself, as your media outlet can attest."
They said they were proud of the fact that the doors of a facility that bears witness to the past and rich cultural spirit of that city, which, after conservation and reconstruction, they can proudly present to future generations, have finally been opened to the citizens of Bar, as well as numerous visitors.
"Trouble in Paradise" from March last year
There were several events that indicated the disturbed relations between government officials in Bar during 2025, which was often a topic at local parliament sessions, when the opposition demanded that it be determined whether the municipality was run by its president Raičević or the head of the municipal council Nenezić.
The culmination came in early March 2025, when the councilors of the DPS, the largest party, did not show up for the session, so the Assembly did not have a quorum for work and decision-making. At the time, the DPS in Bar told "Vijesti" that it was necessary to "harmonize positions" and that there were no crucial problems in the ruling coalition.
In the months that followed, both parties claimed that there was no split in the coalition, but they failed to convince the opposition or the public of this, so the political turmoil reached its peak at the Municipal Assembly session in late December, during which the municipal budget was discussed.
Nenezić rejected eight of Raičević's proposals, claiming that the Mayor was violating the Municipal Assembly's Rules of Procedure and "disrespecting the Assembly that elected him," and that the budget would not be adopted as Raičević had envisioned, "even if it were his last day sitting in the chair of the Municipal Assembly." After the break, Raičević apologized to the councilors at the request of the DPS and withdrew all of the proposals.
There was "boiling" even before the December session - Nenezić submitted an amendment to the budget requesting one million euros to subsidize kindergarten attendance and meals for all children in Bar, and a few days later, Raičević presented the Local Action Plan for the Prevention of Child and Social Protection, in which he included that item, and a total of one million and 700 thousand euros were allocated for 11 measures.
This solution was not acceptable to Nenezić, so not only did he not give up on making his initiative a separate item in the budget, but he also requested an amendment to the agenda of the Municipal Assembly session, so that his proposal would be a separate item for discussion.
Of the 37 seats in the Bar parliament, the majority of 19 councilors are held by DPS, SD, SDP and LP.
Novaković: Why weren't Grabež and Šušter at the opening?
Opposition councilor in the Bar parliament Radomir Novaković (Biram Bar) at the end of July demanded an explanation as to why Aleksandra Grabež and the Secretary of the Secretariat for Property and Investments Stefan Šušter (SD) did not attend the ceremonial opening of the reconstructed King Nikola's Castle.
As he stated, the reconstruction lasted about 34 months, from September 2023 to July 2026, and the total value of the project, including the development of the main design, construction work and expert supervision, amounted to 2.237.239 euros including VAT.
"This is a project for which the citizens of Bar paid more than 2,2 million euros, which is why the public deserves an answer to one simple question - why the director of the Cultural Center and the secretary of the Secretariat for Property and Investments Šušter were not present at the opening ceremony," said Novaković.
According to him, if they were the ones leading and coordinating the implementation of this multi-year project, it would be natural for them, together with the Mayor, to attend the opening ceremony and present the results of their many years of work to the citizens.
"Citizens have the right to know why they were not part of the opening ceremony," said Novaković.
He added that if the reason for their absence is traffic congestion in the city, as could be heard in some comments, then that is also a topic that, in his opinion, should be seriously discussed.
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