The new government turns Montenegro on the Euro-Atlantic path

With the election of the new minority government in Montenegro, elected on March 28, 2022, the Democratic Front, i.e. the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian parties, which make up the alliance, but also the Democrats, are again in opposition. Their rule did not last long (about a year and a half), but enough to stop the process of European integration by doing, or not doing anything about it. Although loudly in support of Russia, they could not influence the official stance of the Government of Montenegro, which as a candidate and possibly the next member of the EU, supported all the sanctions that the EU imposed on Russia.

The parties, which until recently formed the parliamentary majority, have caused a lot of damage to Montenegro even at the domestic level. There was a kind of “occupation” of institutions in terms of values ​​and identity, i.e. the imposition of “Serbs” and the denial of “Montenegrins”. All with the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, which in fact appointed former Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic and he elected 12 ministers, or as he called them, 12 “apostles”.

The URA civic movement, led by incumbent Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, supported and was part of such a government, only to “abolish the 30-year rule of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and Milo Djukanovic”.

However, all “up to a certain point”. And when the time came to “call to mind”, the URA canceled its support for the government in which it participated.

President Djukanovic gave the mandate to Dritan Abazovic to form a new minority government, supported by the DPS, which includes: URA; the pro-Serbian Socialist People’s Party; the Social Democratic Party; and the parties of minorities in Montenegro, Albanians, Bosnians and Croats.

The Democratic Party of Socialists is not part of the Government, but as it is the strongest party in the parliament with 29 deputies, it will influence the work of the government and the decisions that will be taken by both the government and the parliament. So, there are estimates that this is a step towards the return of the PDS to power.

It should be noted that two very important ministries: Defense and Foreign Affairs are run by Rasko Konjevic and Ranko Krivokapic from the sovereigntist and Euro-Atlantic oriented Social Democratic Party, which was in power with the DPS.

The current minority government of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic is short-lived. Early parliamentary elections have been avoided and should ensure that Montenegro’s position on the international stage is stabilized and that real political power is in the hands of those who have no doubt that they are in favor of EU integration and NATO, of which Montenegro is a member and not Russia, which was aspired to by the Government of Zdravko Krivokapic and MPs who supported that government and who perceived Montenegro as belonging naturally to Serbia and Russia and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Kentera comes at the head of NSA?

The President of the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro, Savo Kentera, is a candidate for a new director of the National Security Agency (NSA), Montenegrin media report.

Kentera would replace the current director of NSA, Dejan Vuksic., who is closely associated with the Serbian Orthodox Church and who is accompanied by numerous controversies over the events before and during the coronation of Metropolitan Ioanikije in Cetinje, in September last year. At the time, Metropolitan Ioanikije and Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porphyry were brought to Cetinje by military helicopter because citizens had blocked the road.

Savo Kentera is president of the Atlantic Alliance of Montenegro, a political think tank group based in Podgorica, Montenegro, and vice president of the World Atlantic Charter Organization.

His areas, according to his biography, include expertise in international relations, intelligence policy and governance, security issues affecting the intelligence community, other security studies and terrorism. Prior to joining the Atlantic Alliance, he was director of the Center for International Relations in Montenegro. /The Geopost