The Presidency of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) has obliged Government members Maja Vukićević and Milun Zogović to initiate a comprehensive dialogue at the first Government session based on the referendum result of December 14, 2025, which would take into account the views of the citizens of Zeta regarding the intention to build a wastewater treatment plant.
After the session of the DNP Presidency, a statement was issued, which also listed other conclusions:
- Government members Milun Zogović and Maja Vukićević are obligated to initiate constitutional changes on the standardization of the Serbian language as the official language at the first session;
- Government members Milun Zogović and Maja Vukićević are committed to initiating amendments to the Citizenship Law at the first session.
- Government members Milun Zogović and Maja Vukićević are committed to initiating amendments to the law on state symbols at the first session so that the tricolor is standardized as the national flag.
"In the event that the Government does not receive support for these initiatives, the DNP members of the Government, Milun Zogovoć and Maja Vukićević, will resign from their positions, and the parliamentary group will cancel its support for the Government of Milojko Spajić. At the same time, the DNP councilors' group in the Podgorica Municipal Assembly will cancel its support for Mayor Saša Mujović," the DNP statement reads.
They added that they had accepted the initiative of the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Andrija Mandić, to start new negotiations in order to overcome the growing crisis. The negotiations, they added, ended last night without results, because Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, as announced, did not accept the proposed options that could have been the basis for further talks with the residents of Botuni.
"From the first day of support, and later participation in the Government, the DNP has not given up on its ideological and programmatic principles. Our programmatic commitments are in no way in conflict with the Coalition Agreement, nor with the so-called Barometer 26, because these are European values and standards that are only ignored in Montenegro. After the completed population census, any of our public initiatives to standardize the Serbian language as an official language in the Constitution, to pass the Law on Citizenship, to legally standardize the tricolor as the national flag, would be met with rejection by our coalition partners in the Government. Discriminating against the linguistic majority, ignoring the existence of tens of thousands of our compatriots who live in Serbia, while in Montenegro they have no rights, and at the same time humiliating ourselves below the threshold of national dignity and accepting ultimatums from certain countries in the region, is not and cannot be in the interest of the citizens who supported us in the 2023 parliamentary elections. The recent repressive action by the police against the unarmed and peaceful citizens of Zeta has completely exposed the essence of this Government, or its dominant parts. Arresting fifty-four residents of Zeta, including minors, women, the elderly, the president of the Municipality of Zeta, and councilors, just because they peacefully defended the referendum will and opposed the corrupt project to build a WWTP, represents an unacceptable act of repression. To complete the tragicomedy, this action was led by the same people who arrested the citizens of Zeta and Montenegro during the march, which is the best evidence of the 'reformed' and 'vetted' police, which received congratulations from Prime Minister Spajić and Mayor Mujović for the shameful action in Botun," the statement reads.
They add that they have been calling for dialogue on the most important socio-political topics all along, and that they have regularly received "silence or negative responses to these calls."
"And now we are ready to participate in the dialogue, if there is a willingness on the other side. But everyone should know, there is no trading with ideological and program principles. DNP is not in the Government for the seats, but for the citizens who gave us the vote to protect their interests. And it will not be a problem for us to leave the Government if our initiatives are rejected. We have no intention of being silent observers and accomplices in the assimilation of the Serbian people, corruption scandals, dubious contracts and further devastation of national resources and interests. Montenegro should be a state of all of us, and it is increasingly becoming a state of a few of them who will leave it the moment they are left without functions. DNP has no reserve destinations, we have proven that, and we will prove it with an uncompromising fight that we have not given up on. Our offer is clear and unchangeable, now it is others' turn," the DNP statement reads.
On December 30 last year, DNP leader Milan Knežević announced that he would propose that the party leave power in the country and Podgorica, after that day the police in Botun carried out an action that ended a two-month protest by the residents of that Zeta settlement against the plan to build a wastewater treatment plant (collector) there. While the police were carrying out the action, arresting citizens and allowing construction machinery to enter the plot in Botun so that work could begin, Knežević was with the residents of that Zeta settlement who were protesting.
Independent parliament member in Zeta, Svetozar Ulićević, and an alleged "group of citizens" from that municipality, led by Predrag Vulević, yesterday asked the DNP to remain in the state and Podgorica government.
If the DNP were to leave the Podgorica government, its survival would be called into question, while a potential exit from the government could pass without serious consequences, given the high support it has in the state parliament.
If the DNP leaves the ruling coalition in Podgorica, the majority in the capital's parliament could only be maintained by the entry of opposition parties into it, not counting the strongest - the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which can hardly be part of such an arrangement.
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The Capital City Assembly has 59 councilors, and the support of at least 30 of them is required to constitute the city government. The ruling majority in Podgorica is made up of 31 councilors - it includes the Europe Now Movement (PES) - Democrats (14 councilors), the parties of the former Democratic Front (of which DNP is a part) with minor partners (13 councilors), and the Movement for Podgorica, close to the head of state Jakov Milatović (four councilors). With the exit of the DNP, which has four representatives (by agreement with Prava Crne Gora, they have since gained a fourth), from the city government, the ruling coalition would "drop" to 27 representatives, and would have to, if it does not want to hold early elections, seek the support of at least three opposition councilors in order to "survive".
When it comes to the state level, or the government, it would not be threatened by the possible exit of the DNP, unless Knežević were joined by his long-time partners from the former Democratic Front - New Serbian Democracy (NSD) of Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić. However, the question is how realistic this is, given that Mandić's party did not oppose the construction of the collector in Botun, which Knežević strongly protested against.
On December 31, Mandić announced that his party and Knežević's DNP were coalition partners, but that they were different political organizations, although they were "in solidarity" over the situation in Zeta. He had previously said the day before that the police action against the people of Botunja had threatened peace in Montenegro.
"I stand with Milan Knežević to respect what the citizens of Zeta decided. At this moment, peace and stability are at risk," said Mandić, who said on the last day of last year that he could not chair the Assembly session due to the situation in Botun, after which it did not continue its work that day.
On December 31, Knežević said that he would resign from his position as a member of parliament, as well as from the position of leader of the DNP, if the party's Presidency rejects his proposal to leave the Government and the authorities in Podgorica.
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