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Ten to Eight – And where’s the seal?

You are reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous weekend.

By Ljubomir Filipović, CdM observer

I would start this week by reminding you of the fact that Deputy PM Abazović owes us a slightly better explanation about €21m and about who Mr Stevan Simijanović is.

Where is the seal? – Collapse of Montenegrin diplomacy

A couple of years ago, this video from Niš, Serbia went viral throughout the former Yugoslavia. It’s a comic scene, which is incredibly reminiscent of what is happening in our diplomacy today – the search for the seal in Beijing, the locking of the embassy, ​​the search of the ambassador’s private belongings, the search for the seal. While Ambassador Darko Pajović claims that the seal is in the embassy, ​​the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that it can’t find it. Bottom line – and shame, not only for all those who participate in it, but also for the state of Montenegro.

The former Slovenia’s defense minister and the former MEP, Mr Roman Jakić, also criticized the move of sending the recall by the minister without an agreement with the President and before the decision of the committee.

At the committee, MP Slaven Radunović attacked Ambassador Vera Kuliš in a low-key manner and made inappropriate insinuations, to which the Ambassador responded.

MP Boris Mugoša rightfully called the whole situation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a circus. The recall left Montenegro’s representation in important countries to lower-ranked diplomats.

At the same time, URA is attacking Ambassador Miodrag Vlahović, who is in the Vatican, and is publishing verdicts from the Ambassador’s private lawsuit in order to discredit him. It has been announced that both mentioned parties from the published verdict will initiate proceedings against URA for publishing this document.

Trouble in paradise

As the elections in Nikšić approach, differences and sparks between the partners are becoming more and more apparent. A serious test was and remains the adoption of “prosecutorial laws”, which, as the SNP says, has only been postponed for now, stressing that the laws in this form have not been withdrawn. Mr Andrija Mandić said that their partners didn’t have the courage to dismiss Special State Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić, and MP Nebojša Medojević gave a signal that for him and his political movement, the opinion of the Venice Commission on legal solutions wouldn’t be binding.

The election of the police director may be the biggest obstacle to further cooperation in the Government, bigger than the one with the Prosecutor’s Office. DF’s candidate was eliminated in the candidacy phase, but now the choice of Minister Sergej Sekulović, Mr Zoran Brđanin, has been put on hold by the Prime Minister, because DF is strongly blackmailing his colleagues about this.

We remind you that DF said that it wouldn’t vote for anything that comes from the Government to Parliament until Mr Katnić is dismissed. To this they have probably now added the election of a police director.

Impact of vaccines

Impact of vaccines is a global topic, which is why I was asked by the largest Canadian daily newspaper The Globe and Mail to comment on how it affects Serbia, and how Serbia then affects the region with vaccine donations. I commented on the same event for Belgrade’s Danas.

The impact of vaccines was the topic of a televised confrontation between Minister Jelena Borovinić Bojović and the DPS official and the former KCCG director, Mr Jevto Eraković. The Minister scandalously waved documents with private health records of Montenegrin citizens during the talk-show. We remind you that 7,000 people signed a petition for Minister JBB’s dismissal.

Sale of Maybach

Two luxury Maybach vehicles, which were donated to the Government of Montenegro, will be sold.

This populist move was announced personally by the Prime Minister in a rather bizarre address to the public. As one of the cars is used by the President of Montenegro, his office responded to this.

  1. Maj founded

Today, the supra-party, democratic and informal social movement called 21. Maj Civic Initiative has been set up. “In accordance with the plan, a thousand citizens confirmed its founding status, which created the conditions for the election of the Movement’s bodies and its further development.

The Movement remains open to all citizens who support its founding Proclamation, so the number of members will not be limited at any time”, said the media coordinator, Ms Tanja Pavićević. As one of the founders, I was honored to present this Movement, which includes some of the biggest names in Montenegrin science, diplomacy, journalism and all other professions, to the Montenegrin public during the RTCG’s news.

So much for today. Have a nice rest of the day.

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