The President of Montenegro and the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Milo Đukanović received as a gift a much better maneuvering political position than he had after August 2020, Srđan Perić, from the Preokret movement, announced in an interview with Vijesti Television.
TV Vijesti journalist: Mr. Perić, what do you expect to happen on August 19? Will another government fall and who could make up the majority of 41 MPs?
Peric: What we can expect is further political uncertainty and a further situation in which responsibility will be avoided, first of all to take responsibility for what has been done, and then to continue to be in a position to make decisions without taking that same responsibility. You are running away from elementary democratic principles, which is that the government is formed from the majority, from the unquestionable majority that stands behind it with its full political legitimacy, and not by some conditioning, which was clearly the case here. It is the worst position for citizens and there is uncertainty about its results, they are limited and ultimately we do not know, that policy is not predictable and we do not know what can happen, and that position is always the most favorable for some kind of political brokering in which the political the entity that will be the most skilled at grabbing the highest power, without submitting to responsibility.
If the Government loses confidence, what do you expect President Milo Đukanović to do? Will they give the mandate to someone else, or are we expecting extraordinary parliamentary elections?
Peric: The president of the state, who is also the president of the DPS, received as a gift a much better maneuvering political position than he had after August 2020. And now it depends on his interpretation of how he would behave in the event of the fall of the Government. At this moment, we do not know whether it will fall, primarily because it is being presented at this moment that those subjects who would vote for the overthrow of the Government are overthrowing it because of the signing of the Basic Agreement, and this type of presentation makes it a problem for two subjects to overthrow that Government because of that reasons, these are the DF and the Democrats, and you can come, theoretically, to one possibility that the Government does not have 41 deputies who support it, but it also does not have 41 deputies who would deny it confidence, and that it governs the country in that one limbo without assuming full responsibility with a very limited legislative potential, and what it can do at that moment is very questionable, and all of this would lead to the finals towards the presidential elections, where the Government, which cannot make reform cuts, above all economic ones, would then face potential dissatisfaction that could again to capitalize on the president of the state in the race for the president of the state in the new mandate
So what awaits us after August 19: the status quo with the existing parliamentary majority or some possible reconstruction of the Government?
Peric: One of the options is to form some kind of majority, in one way or another, from the conditionally speaking or realistically speaking winning side of 2020 from the month of August. However, the URA, which leads this Government, explicitly said that the DF cannot hold ministerial positions, at least it was before, there is a very strong conflict with the Democrats, a conflict that is on a personal, not only on a political level, and only the conclusion of that majority in this at the moment it seems quite complex. Basically, things should be solved in a very simple way, which is elections. When you have activities arranged like this, when there is one option, specifically the URA, when it has changed both its rhetoric and strategic position compared to the rhetoric and strategic position it had in the pre-election campaign, then you go to the elections and check your new position, and then you have completely clean settings and no one can complain about anything. Another option that is being mentioned more and more in the public, that an arrangement could be concluded so that they would now have a rotation in the position of prime minister with some other solution, which at the moment is only the result of speculation.
Does the parliamentary election in October suit any political entity?
Peric: We see that the current majority, out of fear of becoming a minority, ran away from the elections, violating the Constitution and postponing local elections. This directly violated the legal provision that elections must take place once every four years, citizens have the right to express their opinion on the quality of any government at the local and state level once every four years, and this is now denied to them. We do not know if there will be definitive elections in October, although they now claim that they will, but let's not forget that it was also claimed for June, let's not forget that on a daily basis we hear promises that are not fulfilled.
You formed a new political movement Urokret. You have announced your participation in the elections in Podgorica, what do you expect to be the citizens' response to the new party, do you think that you can be collateral damage due to some previous parties of civic profiling that obviously did not meet the expectations of the voters?
Peric: When it comes to new entities, of course, you can always rightfully question the credibility of any new entity that is established. But it is one of the basic instruments of democracy, that through new subjects you correct the existing policies and on the other hand, that you put pressure on the existing elites to return more and more to the principles of responsibility. And you shouldn't run away from that. The moment you let the political oligarchies monopolize the space, then you have the problem we have now, that you constantly have agreements and that it is not important how you will vote, but how they will agree.
It is true that there is always a risk that someone says one thing during the campaign and does another thing at key moments, this should be bridged by people's credibility and the feeling of citizens whether they can trust an offer or not. And on the other hand, a key question arises, if you continuously criticize certain moves of the government, if on the other hand you offer what should be done, at some point it is fundamentally correct that you put it on paper, that some people stand behind that paper , go before the voters and ask for support for it. Let's check if it also has the support of the citizens. And you shouldn't run away from that. In short, we've tried everything, we don't see any of it working, let's try democracy.
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