Speaking about the protests and the connection of the “dissatisfaction” of the citizens in Tirana, Belgrade and Podgorica, Minister of Defense, Predrag Bošković, says that protests in Montenegro are politically colored and are not inclined to national values and identity at all. Bošković firmly believes that problems in the surrounding areas cannot affect Montenegro because the institutions of the system are well organized. Besides we are NATO member.
Minister said that our country had had by 250% higher inflow of FDI in the first year of NATO membership.
“A concrete example of NATO system of collective security is the protection of our air space. I’m talking about the Air Policing mission, carried out by Italy and Greece following the model that is being applied to the air space of Albania and that has turned out to be very efficient”, said Mr Bošković.
NATO membership enables Montenegro to take part in the process of the creation of global security policy, to make decisions about the objectives of common interest and about the funds needed to achieve such objectives.
“Montenegro retains its full sovereignty in the Alliance. The Alliance can’t render a decision that opposes the national interest of some ally. The Alliance doesn’t bring any losses, decisions are rendered by consensus and the activities are performed following the principle of solidarity”, says the Minister.
The region is still faced with many unsolved problems and challenges. However, the Minister assures that such problems cannot affect Montenegro.
“There’s no such problem that can’t be tackled and the historical agreement between North Macedonia and Greece proves it. For tackling specific issues, a clear and strict policy is required. European and Euro-Atlantic integration of WB countries is the best guarantee of the stability of this region. Considering that most countries in the region advocate for NATO, UN and EU missions, and that they share foreign policy interests, there’s no need to fear that there will be some negative reflections”, said Minister Bošković.
Security challenges in the region are the same as those that the international community is faced with – hybrid threats, migrations and violent extremism.
“In case of Montenegro, hybrid threats require most commitment. However, thanks to its strict policy and strong support of partners and allies, Montenegro manages to resist the temptations and harmful methods”, said Minister Bošković.
He believes that protests in Montenegro are legitimate of expressing dissatisfaction as long as they are peaceful and political interests from the side do not intervene.
“However, concrete social requests lack here and, therefore, the characteristic of civil protests is lost. National flags never fluttered during the rallies in Montenegro which means that protests here aren’t inclined to national values. What connects the actors of the protests is the fact that they are trying to take over the power from the street, use of offensive language, threats and a certain level of political misbehavior. This pretty much hinders the stability of the region. President of Montenegro and the Prime Minister have said many times that their door is always open for a fair political dialogue within the institutions. The other side wasn’t willing to do it”, said Minister Bošković.
