Nikolić resigns as head of the Inquiry Committee: We will no longer participate in a simulation of democracy

The head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Andrija Nikolić, announced that he had resigned from the position of chairman of the Inquiry Committee tasked with collecting information and facts about the actions of state authorities and other actors in cases of politically motivated murders.

- We have held a series of press conferences since the beginning of this week, and at each one we expressed our protest against the current parliamentary majority and the Government of Montenegro, because the parliamentary majority and the Government are trying to simulate democracy in this institution. We said that we will not participate in the political marketing of this majority and Government, which only declaratively refers to European Union standards and then votes for legal solutions that override the Constitution of its own state and all European conventions on human rights. As an expression of that institutional revolt, our MPs who until recently held leading positions in certain committees, including the post of Deputy Speaker of Parliament, have submitted irrevocable resignations - he said.

The red line

He stressed that they will no longer participate in what he called a simulation of normality.

- If this time we had accepted that this crossed red line should serve as an alibi for the so-called European path as presented by this majority, we would have opened a new cycle of legitimizing the unconstitutional and unlawful behavior of this government - Nikolić added.

He said that he had already submitted his resignation from the position of chairman of the Inquiry Committee.

According to him, he did so because he believes there is no need to simulate institutional cooperation within a working body responsible for oversight when such cooperation does not actually exist.

- If time has shown anything - and we said we were entering the Inquiry Committee to prevent the abuse of the institution of parliamentary oversight and to ensure that hearings were conducted in accordance with parliamentary procedures, so that it would not become either a court or a prosecutor’s office – it is that we got political quarrels instead and an attempt to use that platform to damage the image of the Democratic Party of Socialists and its growing rating - he said.

The basic idea behind forming the Inquiry Committee, he added, was to criminalize the referendum process and the restoration of Montenegro’s independence.

- One must never forget, and this is the reminder we send today, that the majority of the current parliamentary majority remained loyal until the very end to the politics of Slobodan Milošević and to the people who, on behalf of that regime, ordered political assassinations in Serbia during the 1990s and the early 2000s,” Nikolić emphasized.

According to him, the Inquiry Committee was meant to „retouch history“. They promised a lot, he said, but delivered very little.

- The Inquiry Committee was conceived exclusively as a political platform to settle scores with dissenters - Nikolić added.

Political persecution

Recently, he noted, there has even been what he described as a legalization of that political persecution through two laws - the Law on Internal Affairs and the Law on the National Security Agency - which the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović returned to parliament as unconstitutional.

- If there is a will to reach the full truth regarding certain tragic events, including numerous murders, there are institutions of the system. It cannot be said that the DPS controls them. It has been six years since we have been in opposition. If someone has evidence that someone did something illegal, no one in this party will oppose the enforcement of the law and the rule of law. But I think we do not have the rule of law, instead we have democracy as interpreted by the people in the parliamentary majority - Nikolić said.

He also announced that Oskar Huter, deputy chairman of the Committee for Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning, will submit his resignation in the coming days.

A microphone, not boycott

Asked whether the resignations represent a form of boycott and what could be achieved by them, given that they previously argued that boycotts are ineffective, Nikolić said that this is not a boycott.

- The fact that we have stepped down from certain leadership positions is a message to the parliamentary majority that the previous institutional correspondence is no longer valid. We will not withdraw from parliamentary committees yet, as we have said that we remain interested in working in parliament. Parliament is the best platform for communication with citizens. We do not have many alternatives. We will use the microphone in parliament for a stronger political campaign to explain to citizens and encourage the highest turnout of dissatisfied voters in the next elections - Nikolić said.

When asked to comment on the fact that the director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption was still not appointed, and who bears responsibility if the acting status continues, Nikolić said he believes they are not the right address for such a question.

- Responsibility for the elementary functionality lies with the parliamentary majority - Nikolić said.

According to him, the DPS is no longer in a position to obstruct their agreements, but problems arise when a political agreement needs to be implemented fully.

- Whenever a problem arises, things here function on the principle of „you give me, I give you“. That is classic political trade that prevents further institutional development of the state. That is why at all levels we have a high degree of incompetence, lack of expertise, and bad political intentions fueled by the need to take revenge on political opponents - Nikolić said.

The question of responsibility

He added that the dominant narrative is focused on what happened before 2020.

- The Democratic Party of Socialists has not been in power for six years. But when does your responsibility for the condition of institutions and the state begin? We do not get an answer to that question, only attempts to obscure the problems - Nikolić said. The recent call for Milo Đukanović to testify before the Inquiry Committee did not come by chance. The day before, in the TV show Načisto, the allegedly fugitive Miloš Medenica called in, and due to complete dysfunction someone came up with the idea: „Let’s call Milo, let’s stage a show for the public so we can change the headlines in the media“. That’s how they operate - Nikolić assessed.

He believes that every citizen should ask whether this is the kind of government the country deserves while it is in the final phase of European integration.

Commenting on the appointment of two deputy mayors in the municipality of Budva, he said that their party there functions at the level of project support.

- Who will be president and who will be deputy is less important. What matters more is that the local government better serves the needs of citizens. Previously we had general political instability that spilled over into the lives of Budva’s residents, from municipal and infrastructure issues to institutional functioning. Who holds which position is less important to us, what matters is that the people from our party who have taken these roles achieve results and that progress can be seen - Nikolić said.

He added that he does not have information about who will become the deputy mayor in Plav.