The platform for overcoming the crisis policy offered by the opposition is a document that every responsible government would strongly welcome as an optimal comprehensive instrument for achieving a European social consensus in a key phase of Montenegro’s European path, says one of the leaders of the European Union, Ivan Vujović.
“Each responsible authority would propose and initiate the adoption of a similar document, with the prior opening of a serious dialogue with the opposition, with a focus on changes to the Constitution and other major challenges around which it is necessary to reach the broadest consensus. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in Montenegro so far, with at the same time a complete ignorance of the complex procedure of amending the Constitution by the authorities and treating the matter as a technical one. Not to mention the Prime Minister’s casual invitation, from the parliamentary rostrum, to come to his Cabinet, in order to, I guess in about ten minutes, I solved those “irrelevant” and burdensome issues”, says Vujović.
According to Vujović, Montenegro in its parliamentary experience has very good examples and practice of implementing the process of dialogue between the government and the opposition, in response to changes to the Constitution and deciding by qualified majority on sensitive issues of judicial appointments.
“We remind you that precisely in that period, at the initiative of the then government, this process was successfully completed, which was a prerequisite for the opening of accession negotiations and the most sensitive chapters 23 and 24. We emphasize that in that period the demands of the opposition at that time and the current government were incomparably greater, often completely unprincipled, in contrast to the approach of today’s opposition, which focuses exclusively on the EU agenda with its Platform,” said Vujović.
As he said, every responsible government in all the countries of the previous waves of enlargement tried to provide the widest political and social support with an exclusive focus on EU issues, while in Montenegro the image is created that the opposition is unnecessary for the process, except when its votes in the parliament are necessary for the adoption of certain acts.
“Disregarding the opposition and other actors on the public stage is an act of complete political irresponsibility and it would be very useful for the government to give up such bizarre and wrong logic. After all, our EU partners are talking about this more and more often, and the latest findings from the European Parliament’s report convincingly testify to the right approach that needs to be taken,” Vujović said.
In the end, Vujović pointed out that the animosity of parts of the current government towards the opposition, their desire for political revenge and complete political-party control over institutions, manifested through the adoption of rigid anti-European laws, must not be more important than the European path of the country and the need for us all to act together in an elementary democratic, European and appropriate moment for the future of the country.
