President of the Management Board of the Center for Monitoring and Research (CeMI) Zlatko Vujović He assessed that the judiciary and prosecution in Montenegro are "self-censored" by those in power.
He said this at the roundtable "Resilience of Democracy in Times of Polarization and Populism: From Elections to Civic Participation" organized by the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro (ASCG) and held at the Science and Technology Park of Montenegro in Podgorica.
Azra Karastanović from ASCG said at the beginning of the event that democracy is a joint project.
"It's easy to declaratively support democracy when we get what we want," she pointed out.
She added that it is time to ask the question of what kind of society we want to be. "In the last few years, we have had several changes of government. This is a healthy practice, not a sign of instability."
She added that "the state cannot be governed by current political interests." "Democratic renewal does not come by itself," she said. "The executive and legislative branches must not act as mechanisms for maintaining the majority".
Karastanović pointed out that democracy is not activated on election day, but is an ongoing process.
Komar: Montenegrin society has no consensus on the direction it is heading in
Professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Montenegro Olivera Komar said that democracy globally is experiencing its brightest moments.
"Affective popularization - when we divide ourselves and dislike other people because they have different ideas," she explained.
She pointed out that the indices in the surveys show an average state - neither good nor bad. "The first parameter would be the balance between the executive and legislative branches. Today, the executive branch takes over the powers of the legislative branch, the legislative branch takes over the powers of the executive branch, and the judicial branch does not work properly."
She also pointed out that civil society is "alive" when it comes to non-governmental organizations, but they are not the only ones that make up civil society. "There are very few civic initiatives, and the authorities have little interest in them," she explained.
"The third factor should be social cohesion. Montenegrin society has no consensus on the direction it is headed. They only have an eye on joining the EU, but transactionally - everyone says we will be better off. Many do not support the EU's foreign policy," she added.
As Komar says, the problem is that the institutions are not fully developed.
When asked by moderator Danilo Kalezić how far the separation of powers has progressed, Komar replied that institutions "formally perceive their work" and that is where they become vulnerable to "external influences."
Vujović: They must show that they are resistant to those who rule
Zlatko Vujović said that within the ruling majority we have more centers of power, unlike the period before 2020.
"DPS had one deficit - that there was no change. However, they were more open to including non-governmental organizations, to say that 'everyone is included'," he said.
He added that electoral reform would be "an elite agreement that will result in a bad reform."
"Everything that was promised will not be fulfilled. Interventions will be made to say that EU instructions have been fulfilled," he announced.
He pointed out that almost all parties are declaratively in favor of open lists.
Vujović referred to the reform model proposed by the Ministry of Public Administration, which did not take hold. "Every veto player slows down the processes," he explained.
When asked whether the change of government, paradoxically, led to a decrease in democracy, Vujović replied that "the government had to change" and that it brings benefits in the long term, but he cited examples of long-term governments - Bavaria, Luxembourg.
"We have a judiciary and a prosecutor's office that are self-censored by the government. The courts and prosecutor's offices decide against the government. To show that democracy is resilient, they must show that they are resilient to those who govern, not to those who are the opposition. It serves to limit the power of the government, not the opposition. The opposition has no power," he explained, adding that a similar problem existed during the previous government.
Roma discriminated against
Vujović assessed that there is no discussion about open lists, and that politicians do not want to talk about something they do not know what effect it would have.
He said that Roma are also discriminated against because they do not have an easier mandate like the Croatian people, and called the political elite "racist".
Nikolić: We have people in key positions who do not respect the law
Director of the Media Institute Olivera Nikolić reminded that a year ago, in addition to the IBAR laws, three more media laws were adopted.
"This government does not understand the need for citizens to be heard," she pointed out.
Nikolić added that there was a working group that worked on drafting media laws, but before the session, the Government changed some of them - primarily the provision on the election of the Director General of Radio and Television of Montenegro.
"In the past year, we have had the fact that we have arrogance at the head of the institution - the courts are not respected. How is that possible? Is this a country that should join the EU? We have people in key positions who do not respect the laws," she explained.
As she said, the problem is also the non-election of members of the RTCG Council, but also members of the Council of the Agency for Audiovisual Media Services.
She pointed out that Bran Mandić was also "intruded upon by the police in his text".
"Misdemeanor proceedings are easily resorted to. We had the Batrićević and Mandić cases," she said.
"Everything that is happening regarding the director of RTCG - re-elections, changes to the law - shows that he was designed for that position," she assessed.
Cerović: Parties behave like tribal elders
Psychologist Radoje Cerović said that, at a time when a large number of lies are told, "their price drops."
"It's not political, it's affective. The moment you play with emotions, anywhere, especially in the Balkans - you have a Molotov cocktail on fire," he said.
Cerović pointed out that "political parties behave like tribal elders."
"That kind of reconciliation, that there is no red publica - a common interest, is a serious obstacle to building what are serious prerequisites for joining the EU. The EU is a magnificent goal in which we should all participate," he said.
"Hate speech is defended by freedom of speech"
Komar pointed out that "hate speech is defended by freedom of speech," but there are no institutions that can analyze what is what.
"We within the state itself do not know what to do. This lack of agreement makes us vulnerable to various influences. Until recently, we did not have Eurosceptic parties, but Euroscepticism is slowly emerging - from messages that we will not enter with our heads bowed," she said.
She said that "neutrality is a myth."
"Today, people in Montenegro are starting to hate each other because they belong to certain ideas," she said.
Komar pointed out that all parties advocate for nominally the same things, but that they have different motivations.
"It is not known who is the helmsman of the ship"
Vujović said that Montenegro, if it is democratic, should not cooperate with undemocratic countries and deport activists.
He pointed out that the Montenegrin prosecutor's office is cooperating with the Belarusian one, but that the courts are refusing.
As he added, there was a case when activists from Belarus were accused of attempting to carry out a coup d'état in Belarus on the orders of Western countries.
"This is the confusion of the Montenegrin authorities, which do not know what to do, but justify themselves by implementing the government's policy," he pointed out.
"It is not known who is the helmsman of the ship. We are heading towards the EU, which is good, but we do not know whether it will be scanned because Mandić or Knežević will say that a decision cannot be implemented," he explained.
Laković: The government and the parliamentary majority are led by processes, not by someone personal
Member of the Europe sd Movement Miodrag Laković, who is in the audience, said that he would not defend the decisions of the majority or the Government, because he came to hear constructive criticism.
He added that "the government and the majority are led by processes, not by someone personally."
Nikolić: Some media outlets from the region demonized the residents of Cetinje
Nikolić said that "Montenegro is small as a media market," adding that most media outlets are foreign-owned.
"We see that we constantly have great interest from Serbia when elections, crises happen... We see that campaigns of intimidation and demonization of parts of Montenegro are being shown then," she said.
As she added, a political decision is needed to recognize that this is a problem, and to open a debate about it - with the media, experts...
"Let's see what policies can be adopted, while still adhering to standards, without undermining market freedom," she explained.
She referred to the accident that occurred in Cetinje on January 1, adding that some media outlets from the region demonized the residents of Cetinje.
Cerović pointed out that the previous government ignored the existence of portals like In4s, "and there is a fuss being made about a portal that has existed for 20 days."
Damir Nikočević from AMU spoke from the audience, saying that the Agency reacted to all violations by media registered in Montenegro, and after the tragedy in Cetinje, it sent a response to the competent authorities in Serbia.
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