By Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM observer
Good morning. You’re reading a daily contextual review of the news that marked the previous day.
Dritan’s fake apology
Yesterday, the official page of Abazovic’s party quoted his “apology” to Cetinje residents he made in a TV show several days ago. All the media reported about it as an apology of DPM even though it was everything but the apology. Why did Abazovic make an apology? Did he maybe mention tear gas, rubber bullets, hiding the evidence of brutalities? No, he once again called the Serbian Orthodox Church a church, as if it’s the only church in Montenegro and in the apology, he again mentioned ‘komite’ as a derogatory term. Finally, he did it at the moment when people are being invited to police stations for talks regarding the events at Dvorski Square and at Belveder on 5 September. And what’s even worse, this apology comes while, in a series of his reports to the Belgrade media, he tells the police action was okay. How bold and rude of him.
Attack on Tonino Picula
Following the warning of MEP Tonino Picula about the misuse of the church and a destabilizing role of Belgrade, we could hear first political reactions from the government. MP Jovan Vucurovic, well known for his homophobic views and denial of the genocide (it’s why, I guess, they chose him to run the parliamentary human rights committee), accused Picula of having anti-Serbian sentiments, telling that he didn’t know how Picula got that function and that he [Picula] backed “a defeated policy of Milo Djukanovic”. A small digression and a reminder that, in one of the many examples of nepotism of the new govt, Vucurovic’s wife was recently elected head teacher of the gymnasium in Podgorica.
Finger food on the celebration
The parliamentary majority had a meeting at the office of PM. The violent clashes in Cetinje fixed the state of play in the coalition. There were finger foods as if they were celebrating the enthronement. Whatever it looked like, it happened.
According to the government’s statement, the participants agreed that there was a need to calm the current political situation in line with the Constitution and laws of Montenegro. They also noted no one was above the State and that the provisions of the legal system must apply to everyone without exception.
Another crisis of the Budva local government
The session of the local assembly was cancelled yesterday. And Carevic’s right hand, a man from Milan Knezevic’s party, who has nothing to do with Budva, seems to be the most important person in the town. I’m talking about Jovanovic, Carevic’s chief of staff from Mojkovac. While the Democrats are protesting, Carevic is slowly but surely taking over all levers of power in Budva. As a local Njegos from Ali Express, the man united the functions of the president of the secular and church municipality of Budva, and by visiting Jasenovac and socializing with the leaders of the Serbian World, church top bishops, he’s gradually ensuring a majority for the next elections in Budva.
I often used to scare Montenegro citizens with Budva and what was happening there, suspecting that the same could happen at the state level. I was often right. Now look at what Budva looks like: URA, through Bozena Jelusic, played a key role and brought Carevic as the president of the municipality. When they no longer needed her, they pushed her out of the coalition. Now, five years later, state-building parties in Budva almost don’t exist, and the whole story boils down to Democrats vs DF. Cetinje has shown that this cannot happen, but imagine Montenegro where the DF is in power and the Democrats are the opposition.
That’s all for today. Have a nice day.
