Good morning! Just when the URA and the SDP agreed, and the SNP was supposed to confirm everything for the weekend, the SD did not want to peacefully accept the marginalized role intended for it; the DPS decided that it would be the one to drag out. Elections in Podgorica scheduled for 19 June; sanctions against Russia came into force; Djukanovic replied to Marovic.
DPS dragging out?
Today is 15 April, one of the days when the URA promised to form a government, but also the date by which the DPS gave them space to agree.
Just when the URA and the SDP made an agreement, and when the SNP had to make a “difficult decision” to admit the SDP into the coalition with feigned indignation, the SD decided not to leave peacefully, but to mess things up well after the fact that it was expelled from the combination due to the SNP. What SD emphasized as a principle, because a principle must exist as a justification, is not illogical in the least. They said the agreement had been changed, and that the SDP had agreed that instead of consensual decision-making, so either all or none, now a two-thirds majority in government would be enough for strategic and problematic decisions such as the Fundamental Agreement and the Open Balkans. This means some decisions have a pass right from the start. The Open Balkans for example. The SD also says that the closer option is a technical government in which even DF would be.
In the end, the DPS intervened, and first the information came to the public that the party’s presidency decided to ask for the participation of both the SDP and the SD in the government, and this was confirmed by the party’s deputy leader Ivan Vukovic.
Either everything is a product of spontaneity, or someone tricked well the URA and SDP. Dritan could not resist the prime minister position, and Ranko could not resist the calling of an armchair that brings travel, meetings and taking photos with world leaders. Just when they thought they had closed the circle, a double DPS-SD pass threatened to shatter their dreams.
What will happen now is a million-dollar question. Dritan now has several options. Either to return to the former parliamentary majority and try to secure an agreement, or to ask international partners to pressure the DPS to agree to a compromise they reached with the SDP and probably the SNP.
This is how the DPS shows its newly acquired power, and Dritan must listen. Either they will listen to DPS, or DF as before. Milan Knezevic explained this explicitly to him.
Elections in Podgorica scheduled for 19 June
Election carousel is to be held in June. Pluzine, Zabljak, Tivat and Budva are planned for the first weekend, Savnik and Bijelo Polje for the second, and Podgorica for the third. Whether the Montenegrin-civil bloc will succeed in regaining and preserving Podgorica, Bijelo Polje, and in regaining Budva and Tivat, will largely depend on the regulation of their mutual relations. Cetinje and Ulcinj have shown that the practice of “everyone with everyone” does not bring results. These elections may be the last test to test the expediency of such a bloc in general and if we need it at all.
Sanctions against Russia have come into force
The decision on sanctions against Russia, adopted by the Montenegrin government last week, was published in the Official Gazette yesterday, which means that sanctions can be applied. By adopting this decision, Montenegro has officially joined all restrictive measures, which include packages of individual and economic sanctions that the European Union has adopted against Russia.
Djukanovic’s answer to Marovic
After Svetozar Marovic made accusations against Milo Djukanovic in response to Djukanovic’s comment on US sanctions against Marovic, Djukanovic publicly responded to Marovic yesterday with a series of accusations and insults directed at him. This conflict, once the two closest associates, would have been more relevant some ten years ago. Although many expected Marovic’s decision to speak publicly about relations within the DPS, alleged secrets that could compromise Djukanovic, Marovic’s letter we saw in Vucic’s media in Montenegro is just recycling topics we’ve heard a hundred times in the media. As in the case of Dusko Knezevic, it seems that Marovic does not have enough information to be able to seriously threaten Djukanovic. It’s either that, or neither of them has gathered enough courage to go to the end, or the hosts don’t allow them to rock the boat. However, for me, the first thing is the most realistic – they just don’t have the information.
That’s it for today and this week. See you again on Monday.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst
