The distancing from the statements and actions of the coalition partners, coupled with the lack of consequences for their actions, is an indicator that political responsibility has not yet been fully developed in Montenegro. Although it is clear that the current government is forced to "swallow" some controversial decisions due to the European integration process, this should not absolve it from taking responsibility for the wrong actions of its constituents.
With these words, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" comment on the behavior of some of the government in situations when their coalition partners make a controversial move - that distancing themselves from it is accompanied by the absence of any consequences.
The most recent example is the condolence telegram sent by the head of parliament Andrija Mandic sent last week on the death of a war criminal Ratko MladićThis move provoked condemnation from part of the Montenegrin public, the region - especially from Croatia - but also from Brussels.
From the Europe Now Movement (PES) Prime Minister Milojko Spajić They told Vijesti last week that Mandić's condolences were a personal and party position, not the government's, and stressed that they respect the final judgments of international courts. However, this reservation was not accompanied by an announcement that they would eventually vote for his dismissal, which was initiated by the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).
Condolences to Mladić are not the first time that Mandić's coalition partners have distanced themselves from him. When in early January 2025, the first man in the Assembly congratulated the unconstitutional day of Republika Srpska, the government said that the executive branch recognizes a single, integral and sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that Mandić "can congratulate whatever he wants on his own behalf."
The leader of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) "created a problem" for his partners in power in February 2024, when he hosted the former long-time president of Republika Srpska in parliament, Milorad DodikThen the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, whose head at that time was Filip Ivanovic (PES), said that they did not organize the visit, but that the highest legislative chamber did. However, they noted that they had informed the Assembly of the “omission” - that during the visit, the official flag of Bosnia and Herzegovina was not displayed alongside the Republika Srpska flag.
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The Albanian Forum announced that it would decide at party organs whether to support the DPS initiative to remove Mandić, while the Bosniak Party announced this morning that it would. After Mandić congratulated the unconstitutional Republika Srpska Day in 2025, the minority parties announced that they would try to “restrain” the head of parliament with a joint platform. However, that idea was never realized.
The problem of political culture
Docent at the University of Donja Gorica Nikoleta Djukanovic, told "Vijesti" that the above examples show that Montenegro does not yet have developed political responsibility, nor is there sufficient understanding of what it entails in a democratic system. She said that instead of distancing oneself from the actions of a coalition partner, political responsibility begins only when a publicly expressed disagreement is followed by a certain political consequence.
"In a parliamentary democracy, accountability is not an abstract principle. Along with the rule of law and the separation of powers, collective and individual political accountability is one of the foundations of the democratic legitimacy of government. There is an unbroken chain of accountability, from citizens who elect the parliament, through the parliament that controls the executive branch, to ministers and institutions entrusted with the governance of the state," she stated.
Đukanović pointed out that if this chain is broken and political actors do not bear any consequences for their decisions and actions, then the very essence of democratic accountability is lost, adding that in Montenegro it usually ends with a statement.
"One coalition partner makes a move that the others declare unacceptable, they publicly distance themselves from it, possibly exchange a few political messages, and then continue to function as if nothing had happened. That is why such distancing loses all political content over time and becomes just a way to preserve the appearance of principle in front of their own voters," she concluded.
However, the interviewee asserted that this is not just a problem of the current government, but rather a much deeper problem of Montenegrin political culture in which responsibility has almost never been seriously developed as a standard of political action.
"The function is not tied enough to results, fulfilled promises and the consequences of decisions made, but above all to the ability to maintain a political arrangement that allows one to remain in power," said Đukanović.
Pragmatism
On the other hand, a retired professor at the Belgrade Faculty of Political Sciences Zoran Stojiljkovic points to the more pragmatic side of coalition relations. He told "Vijesti" that Montenegro needs the broadest consensus on its European path, and that the country has been in a situation for a long time without a party or pre-election coalition that exceeds a quarter of the electorate.
"... This requires some kind of coalition compromise that should not cross certain programmatic boundaries, including not organizing celebrations and celebrating a convicted war criminal and not questioning the territorial integrity and sovereignty of neighboring countries," Stojiljković said.
He assessed that if the different interpretations of Mandić's statements and the government's distancing from them move within the circle that is not outside the agreed program, this can be justified by political pragmatics. Anything to the contrary, he added, would be unacceptable.
"That is now balanced, because the opposite way would mean the radicalization of that extreme Serbian viewpoint and position that is on the line of fulfilling (the President of Serbia Aleksandar) Vučić's desire, which then leads to some kind of instability. So we cannot expect that everyone will interpret every event the same way, but compromises are necessary and possible if these boundary lines are not crossed,” says the interviewee.
The differences are serious, the border is disappearing
Nikoleta Đukanović told the newspaper that the current majority's practice so far shows that the threshold of tolerance is extremely high when the alternative is the loss of power. She recalled that since the formation of the Government in October 2023, the public has witnessed very serious differences among its constituents - from foreign policy and relations with neighbors, through identity and value issues, to European integration, but that almost none of these differences have produced serious political consequences.
She assessed that this shows that the basic cohesive factor of the majority is less a common policy and much more a common interest in the government's survival.
"Coalition relations are therefore not regulated primarily by whether the government achieves results, fulfills promises, or implements policies on which there is agreement, but by what needs to be done so that each partner has sufficient reason to remain in power," she claims.
Djukanovic said that this is precisely why paradoxical situations occur in which political partners publicly distance themselves from each other on very serious issues, and the very next day continue to exercise power together.
According to her, if you claim that a certain move is contrary to state policy, the European course, or the values you represent, and that move in no way affects your relationship with the political partner who made it, then the question legitimately arises as to how much of your distancing is truly principled, and how much of it serves political communication (or calculation).
"Of course, coalition governments imply compromises and partners do not have to have identical positions on every issue. But compromise and lack of responsibility are not the same. Democratic politics also implies the existence of boundaries that are not crossed. If there are no such boundaries, then principledness ceases to be a criterion for political action, and the preservation of power becomes a value in itself," the interviewee said.
She pointed out that the problem is not only that the coalition survives despite differences, but also that citizens can no longer clearly determine who is politically responsible for what.
"When everyone can distance themselves from everything, while at the same time remaining together in power, responsibility is practically diluted to the point where it no longer exists," Djukanovic pointed out.
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