DPP withdraws support from the state and local authorities, Knežević to discuss the coalition’s future actions with Mandić

The leader of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) Milan Knežević announced at a press conference that the party’s presidency had decided to withdraw support from the Government of Milojko Spajić, as well as from the Capital City administration, and that it had accepted the resignations of Deputy Prime Minister Milun Zogović and Minister of Transport Maja Vukićević.

According to Knežević, their resignations will be submitted today to the Parliament of Montenegro.

- Appointments at lower levels were made on the basis of professionalism and meritocracy - let Milojko Spajić decide what to do with them - Knežević said, adding that they had not betrayed a single principle.

At the press conference, Knežević announced that he would soon hold talks with Andrija Mandić, leader of New Serbian Democracy (NSD), on the future actions of the coalition For the Future of Montenegro. He also said that the DPP parliamentary group would submit amendments to the Law on Citizenship and the Law on State Symbols to parliamentary procedure.

- Spajić’s refusal yesterday to forward the DPP initiative to Parliament was a clear indication that there is no institutional readiness within the Government to resolve the status of the Serbian language, dual citizenship, the national flag, or to engage in dialogue with the citizens of Botun and Zeta - he said.

For weeks, Knežević noted, he had been warning that police intervention in Botun would trigger processes that could result in DPP leaving the Government.

- Why did someone send 680 police officers to arrest an entire village when it could have been stopped? The answer is clear - to push DPP out of the Government. That’s not a problem. We will act as the opposition. We have spent half our lives in opposition, fighting alongside citizens, and we have no intention of giving up that fight - Knežević stated.

The DPP leader questioned why Spajić had not dismissed Police Directorate Director Lazar Šćepanović after Miloš Medenica, the son of former Supreme Court president Vesna Medenica, fled on the day he was sentenced to ten years and two months in prison.

- The question is where 620 police officers were when Vesna Medenica’s son was fleeing. Yesterday at Dobrakovo, I was searched and asked to open my trunk to check whether I was transporting Medenica - Knežević said.

At the DPP presidency session, decisions were unanimously adopted that their parliamentary group would actively participate in the work of a parliamentary working group that has yet to be formed and that is expected to deal with identity-related issues. They also agreed that their demands from May 2024 - which were conditions for entering the Government of Milojko Spajić - had not been fulfilled. These demands included the non-statute-of-limitations for criminal offenses related to organized crime and illicit enrichment, the implementation of the Europe Now 2 program, and improvements to the economic and investment climate.

The session of the Democratic People’s Party presidency was held today in Podgorica, and supporters gathered in front of the party’s premises to support the decision to leave the Government, as the demands they had planned to condition their continued participation in power were not included on the agenda of yesterday’s session.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Milun Zogović and Minister of Transport Maja Vukićević announced that they would submit their resignations today at the party presidency session.

In the initiative submitted by the DPP to the Government, they requested: constitutional recognition of the Serbian language as an official language, legal regulation of dual citizenship, legal regulation of the historical tricolor flag - including its use and display, and a comprehensive dialogue between the Capital City, the Municipality of Zeta, and the residents of Botun aimed at finding a compromise solution that would result in a lex specialis.

- This initiative is fully grounded in the Coalition Agreement, Barometer 28, and the legal acquis of the European Union based on equality and inclusion rather than exclusion and discrimination. Deeply convinced that Montenegro needs dialogue and reconciliation, while respecting socio-political reality, historical continuity, and identity pluralism, we believe that the adoption of this initiative would make a key contribution by the Government of Montenegro to EU integration and the lasting overcoming of divisions - the initiative by Zogović and Vukićević states.

According to information from TV E, at yesterday’s session Spajić said that, for the Government of Montenegro, the issue of Botun was closed and that it would turn to new projects involving the construction of wastewater treatment plants across Montenegro. He reiterated that identity issues fall under the jurisdiction of the Parliament of Montenegro and that the Government would not exhaust itself dealing with them.

Regarding Botun, Spajić emphasized that the Europe Now Movement, and therefore the Government, would support strengthening through Parliament the guarantees that the Capital City of Podgorica and the Government had given to the residents of Botun.

Even before yesterday’s session, Spajić said that the Parliament of Montenegro is the proper place to initiate and consider the issue of the Serbian language, with the involvement of all interested stakeholders - not only parliamentary actors, but also social, professional, and academic participants

- It is completely understandable that the most represented linguistic community in Montenegro has a legitimate aspiration to raise the issue of the status of the Serbian language. Although the European path is a priority above all else, all important topics deserve full attention and a responsible approach - Spajić wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Such an approach, he said, is envisaged by Barometer 26, which was agreed upon by all parliamentary parties in Montenegro.

On the other hand, Spajić said that the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Botun is a civilizational and environmental issue and should not be linked to cultural or identity topics.

- The Government has provided clear and precise guarantees that protect every citizen of Botun and the entire Zeta area, which further confirms the sustainability of this project. This is just one of 32 plants we plan to build by the end of 2035 in order to meet environmental standards required for membership in the European Union - Spajić stressed.

The Prime Minister said that a blackmail-based model of cooperation would not be allowed for any political structure within the current majority.

- And decisions on Montenegro’s vital interests will be made exclusively in our country - Spajić concluded.

DPP previously stated that it remains ready for dialogue, but that there would be no bargaining over ideological and programmatic principles.

- DPP is not in the Government for positions, but for the citizens who entrusted us with their votes in the 2023 parliamentary elections. If our initiatives are rejected, we will leave the Government without hesitation - the party said.