President of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Danijel Živković said that he expects Montenegro's international partners, specifically in the United States of America, to pay significant attention to Montenegro and the Western Balkans, so that they are not directed towards malignant policies - such as Russian influence.
Živković attended the Prayer Breakfast in Washington, where he also met with American congressmen, and also had meetings at the State Department. He told the Voice of America that it was an opportunity to discuss topics concerning the Western Balkans, and especially Montenegro.
"The Russian influence, we know very well, is very strong in the Western Balkans, both in Serbia and concretely today we also have pro-Russian parties in Montenegro, they are an integral part of this new government, they support this government, and one of their main representatives is at the head of the Montenegrin Parliament. Therefore, we expect them to be even more committed to preserving these values in the Western Balkans," said Živković in an interview with Voice of America.
Voice of America: What are your reactions to this visit?
Zivkovic: We exchanged opinions and experiences related to the political situation both in the Balkans and in Montenegro, and we agreed on the fact that Montenegro must maintain its Euro-Atlantic perspective, that is, we must all work together in Montenegro to make Montenegro the first and next member of the European Union. It is one of the main priorities that is put on the agenda, let's say also of the American policy in the Balkans, of course maintaining a strong partnership with the NATO alliance. It is well known that the Euro-Atlantic perspective was opened to Montenegro by the Democratic Party of Socialists, together with its coalition partners, that the essence was not only to restore statehood in 2006, but also that we knew what to do with renewed statehood, namely to direct the course and steering Montenegro towards Europe and NATO. You know that we became a member of NATO in 2017, primarily thanks to the policy of DPS, we opened all negotiation chapters and after the political changes that took place on August 30, 2020, enabled those who continued to exercise power in Montenegro to continue with that perspective. You had the opportunity to see that Montenegro's path to the EU was stopped, that is, that there was no progress, according to the reports of the European Commission, which is not good for Montenegro. Therefore, the government should be changeable, it is not a problem to express that kind of democratic maturity through the fact that the government in Montenegro has changed after 30 years.
You had the opportunity to see the handover of power, how it looked in Montenegro, in addition to different expectations from different addresses, DPS continued to emancipate the political scene in Montenegro and showed democratic capacities. We also spoke with Holly Hyland, the State Department's director for Southern and Central Europe. We also talked about the perspectives of the Western Balkans and specifically about Montenegro. We communicated our views and concerns about the fact that in the Government of Montenegro today we have a part of those political structures that do not perceive Europe and European values intimately as their own, those political subjects who worked very dedicatedly in the previous political period to ensure that Montenegro was not an integral part of the Euro-Atlantic family and value system. Therefore, it is a danger that threatens Montenegro, but we agreed on the fact that DPS, regardless of whether it is in power or in the opposition, will protect that Euro-Atlantic perspective, will be a staunch pillar of the defense of the vital national interests of the state of Montenegro.
Voice of America: What do you expect and how closely do you expect the situation in Montenegro to be closely monitored, especially bearing in mind the burning Balkan issues such as, for example, the relations between Kosovo and Serbia?
Zivkovic: You have a situation in which the government in Montenegro changed after August 30, 2020, and I am sure that everyone had the opportunity to see how and in what way the political situation in Montenegro unfolded, almost four years before the change of government. What has changed in the Balkans are also the priorities of key Western partners and some new partnerships have been established. For us it is completely legitimate, we have no problem with it. What is problematic for us is that these partnerships affect the suffering of the countries in the region, specifically I mean Montenegro, but also Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. This completely changes that strategic approach, changes the position of partnerships in the Balkans, and this obviously now affects the fact that these partnerships are possibly happening to the detriment of these countries. And, when I say that, I am primarily referring to the fact that now these partnerships also affect the change in political conditions in the Western Balkans, and partnerships with those key policies in the Balkans that now remind us of what we had the opportunity to see in the 90s, which is not good . Even in the XNUMXs and in the long term, such a situation in the Balkans is unsustainable, since we know very well how it ended in the XNUMXs. We hope and believe that this will not happen in the future, and DPS definitely remains a reliable partner for those who want to improve life in the Western Balkans, to improve life in Montenegro, to make it close to the Euro-Atlantic value system, and DPS will persist in that value system .
Voice of America: Do you expect your partners, above all in the USA, to put some kind of pressure on the Government of Montenegro to stay on that path?
Zivkovic: We expect our partners to be persistent and dedicated in the promotion of these values, it is not easy in the Western Balkans to be committed to these values, we know well historically what the Western Balkans looked like in previous decades, we know well the intimacy and feelings of the citizens of the Western Balkans. Specifically, the DPS in Montenegro after 2006 was dedicated to directing Montenegro towards the European system of values. And that's all the bottom line we need to know - it's a change in thinking. This is not only a change in the conduct of state policy, but a change in the thinking of citizens that the only perspective of Montenegro is in Europe and the European system of values. And we made a key contribution to that, if it weren't for that policy, it would be questionable where Montenegro would be today...
We expect our international partners, specifically here in the USA, operating in the Western Balkans to pay significant attention to both Montenegro and the Western Balkans, so that they are not directed towards malignant policies - such as Russian influence, which we know very well is very strong in the Western Balkans, as in Serbia, so concretely today, we also have pro-Russian parties in Montenegro, they are an integral part of this new government, they support this government, and one of their main representatives is at the head of the Montenegrin parliament. Therefore, we expect them to be even more committed to preserving these values in the Western Balkans. Governments will come and go, they will change, the essence is what values we respect and what is the platform, and we established that platform in Montenegro. Now we are continuing a part of the reconstruction or reform in our party, in our politics, I have already told you that we have had a continuous process of reform in our politics and we have reformed the most on the political scene. Although there are various political entities and media centers that try to inform citizens that this is not the case.
Voice of America: You took over the DPS, the change of generations is something that characterized the entire previous election cycle. In addition to the good things that you say DPS brought to Montenegro, in the international public and in the reports of non-governmental organizations, it is also accused of corruption. What are you doing as the new DPS leader to change that reputation in front of international and domestic actors?
Zivkovic: I have already said what the DPS ID card is. Change of government is completely natural and normal, an integral part of every democratic society. In the 30 years of the DPS, certain deviations and mistakes naturally occurred, and we can never be freed from objective responsibility for those mistakes that we ourselves created in Montenegrin society as an integral part of the government in all these previous years. Government, by nature, corrupts, there is no doubt about that. We never shied away from our responsibility, we even talked openly about our mistakes. I think that this is a valuable experience that we have had in the past four years in the opposition, to make a good and quality introspection, to see where those mistakes occurred and what needs to be done in order to get rid of those mistakes and possibly take the mortgage off the shoulders of such a reputation you spoke, at certain international addresses. Now, as you know, we have had a new reform process in our party, and I really consider the experience we had in the opposition in the past three and a half or four years to be valuable.
First of all, I think that a new generation of politicians in the DPS began to mature, especially after the 2016 elections, that political generation is now in decision-making positions in the DPS. I am also a part of that political generation, and I have a really great privilege, at the same time, a responsibility that I received the trust of our intra-party voting public to manage the DPS, in the first direct intra-party elections that were held in one party in Montenegro. We did not introduce that standard so that someone would copy it from us, or that someone would adopt it as a model, but we think it is good and it has been shown that it is and that we can provide additional democratization of our party with that model. 23.000 members participated in those elections, members elected the internal party leadership for the first time. We had one candidate for president, it would be good if there were more, we had four candidates for vice president, of which four were elected, and what this leadership will do - related to your question - is that this will be a new and a different approach on the political scene of Montenegro, and it is natural that it should be different because you have a new generation, a new political challenge, political times have changed and now it is necessary to respond to that political challenge.
Voice of America: In that changed approach, you said that you will work on some key things such as education, social policy, health care, rule of law. Does this mean that national and state issues still remain in your focus?
Zivkovic: Of course they stay in focus. We are committed to preserving the civic character of Montenegro and our European perspective, and there is no compromise with that, so these are the national interests of Montenegro and we will not trade with national interests, nor will we agree to any kind of rotten compromises with what are the national interests of Montenegro . When we talk about a new approach or new models of action, I am also telling you that we will have a clear program content that we will offer to the voting public of Montenegro. They refer specifically to the systemic reform of education, they refer to equal health care for every citizen of Montenegro, they refer to the issue of economic sustainability, to the issue of balanced social policy as well as to issues of the rule of law. In those five sectoral policies in the coming period, for the next twenty to a month, we will offer the voting public, based on the expertise that we will carry out within our party, what is our plan and program and vision for the further development of the state system. There we will impose ourselves as someone who is a quality competitor to what we have today in positions of power, and as for a few other topics, they cannot be left out of focus. I know about that story that it is said that we are going back too much into the past, that there is too much talk about identity topics. We will agree if we say that we cannot agree to the circumstances or the fact when one of the leaders of this parliamentary majority says that it is necessary to change the Constitution of Montenegro and that it is now necessary to completely change the identity system in Montenegro, that the state of Montenegro should not be a civil state but the state of nations, and the state of nations we know is a confederation of nations. We know that the Confederation of Nations is the prelude to the disappearance of Montenegro. Therefore, we remain focused, of course, on what is the key national interest, but now I have a slightly changed approach and a different offer to the voting public of Montenegro.
Voice of America: What was interesting, when you sent the president, the Minister of Justice from the Europe now movement Andrija Milović congratulated you, and just when you are talking about making plans that you could eventually offer to the voters or maybe even to the existing ruling structure , with all that in mind, is there any chance of cooperation with the Europe Now Movement?
Zivkovic: You see, we talk about values and principles and we always come back to that. Even before the parliamentary elections on June 11 last year, we said that the essence of the government's existence is that it should be based on common values and principles. What are these common values and principles, I have already said. It is the preservation of the civil character of our society and the membership of Montenegro in the European Union as soon as possible. Those who want to work together with us on those principles can be our partners, we said that before and after June XNUMX on a very clear and clean platform. On the other hand, those who today want to trade in those national interests, who say that they are not interested in those national interests, or who create power by trading in power bread, or let's say by satisfying the material interests of individuals, leaders, or by hiding from possible criminal responsibility for many wrongdoings that have been committed in Montenegro three years ago, they cannot be our partners and we cannot build power on those rotten compromises. No problem, if and when Prime Minister Spajić, let's say, comes to his senses, wants and will want to build a healthy platform in Montenegro based on clear visions, on clear principles, on clear values, of course there are no problems in establishing that partnership. If this is not the case, it is nothing terrible, there is no mourning. We remain committed to national interests, we continue to reform our party and in the next elections, which I believe will not be so far away, the Democratic Party of Socialists will undoubtedly be the strongest political entity, and after that we will dictate the platform and models of cooperation on the political scene and what it should look like. developed Montenegro.
Voice of America: Does this mean that these become the conditions for possible cooperation with the Government?
Zivkovic: Of course, there are no rotten compromises. You see today in Montenegro that there are many races to be in power. We even had the opportunity to hear in the parliament, during the vote on the government, that some of the political entities say, we should be an integral part of every government. If you want to be an integral part of every government, why are you involved in politics, what is your value platform, what are your principles? We had the opportunity to see the previous three years of experiments. The first was the expert, semi-expert model of Zdravko Krivokapić's government, which he lost after a year. So that government was overthrown after a year and such an experiment could not work because the political subjects were on different value platforms. After that, we had the next experiment through minority support for Dritan Abazović, who also lost confidence in about 90 days. Now we have, I'm afraid, a new experiment, because once again the political structures are concentrated on different value platforms. In the long term, it is an unsustainable strategy and in the long term it does not lead to any improvement for Montenegro. That is wasted time and that is why we say, whoever wants to cooperate on clear platforms, that will be the only successful government, the only successful path that Montenegro should follow, so there is no other way. Buying, trading functions, the desire to satisfy party interests, to get one or two ministries, or as it has now become established in Montenegrin society, some places in depth, in the end ends the same as the previous two governments of Zdravko Krivokapić and Dritan Abazović. You cannot be such a good experienced manager that you engage in long-term politics in such a way, satisfying individual particular party interests, while trading with national interests. In the end, the balance is negative, in the end the citizens also lose, the state loses, time is wasted. We need to gather a little more political courage, we need to have a good vision and we need to work dedicatedly for the good of the citizens of Montenegro.
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