CCE: The Government's decision is not just a blow to FCJK, but a message to anyone who thinks for themselves that there is no place for them

The Center for Civic Education (CCE) expressed a strong protest against the decision of the Government of Montenegro not to adopt the decision on the enrollment of freshmen at the Faculty of Montenegrin Language and Literature (FCJK) at the expense of the state.

"This is a regular procedure by which the documentation for admission approval is submitted to the Government, identical to the one that exists for the University of Montenegro. Instead of formal adoption, the FCJK case was transformed into a political issue by precedent - it was discussed, with the opposition of the Democrats, NSD, DNP and SNP. Without their votes, it was not possible to secure funds for the new generation of students. These parties have shown how they understand democracy - as one-mindedness," the CCE assessed.

In a post on the Xks platform, CCE reminded that some of them had previously not hesitated to express public admiration for the autocratic methods of responding to dissenters, such as Aleksandar Vučić in the neighborhood, and added that we now know who in the government is actively implementing them, regardless of attempts to present themselves differently.

"It is particularly worrying that the fate of a scientific institution, which cooperates with prestigious European universities, is decided by the Government, for 44% of whose members, according to the CCE's findings, public data on the educational institution where they obtained their degree cannot be found.

There is money in the budget - for the largest government in history, for delegations traveling around the world, for illegally founded and financed religious schools, for millions in compensation for political revanchism... but there is no money for an academic institution that has been visited in the past few months by the Czech and Slovak presidents, a professor from Yale, a delegation from the Slovak Academy of Sciences, and numerous other prominent figures.

"This decision is not just a blow to FCJK - it is a message to anyone who thinks for themselves that there is no place for them in Montenegro," concluded the CCE.