The behavior of the Minister of Defense Dragan Krapović exposes one of the most serious weaknesses of the pro-European administration of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and at the same time undermines the idea of gathering a political alliance that would enable Montenegro to conclude negotiations on membership in the European Union, Croatian political analyst and good expert on the situation in Montenegro, Davor Đenero, assessed for Portal ETV.
He warns that the issue raised by European Union (EU) MP Nikola Zirojević is much more than a political dispute, as it relates to the multi-year collapse of the security sector and the consequences that this has had on the trust of NATO allies in Montenegro.
Đenero assessed in a statement for Portal ETV that MP Zirojević opened up one of the most important and sensitive political issues in Montenegro, which relates to the state of the security sector and its management in the last few years.
According to him, the problems in that sector began to intensify after the formation of the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić and the arrival of Dejan Vukšić at the head of the National Security Agency (ANB).
Đenero said that Zirojević opened a political issue that is very important and sensitive for Montenegro, and it refers to the systematic collapse of the security sector of the country since the establishment of the Government of Zdravko Krivokapić, i.e. from the moment when Dejan Vukšić, later adviser to President Jakov Milatović for national security, took over the management of the ANB.
“There were a series of affairs which, first of all, testified to the ‘drilling’ of the Montenegrin national security system by the Serbian BIA and the Russian SVR, to the connections of part of the nomenclature of the Democratic Front with Russian intelligence structures, but also, which is particularly serious for Montenegro, to the compromising of data that the country, as a member of NATO, received from partner countries,” he warns.
He believes that the consequences of such developments are serious for the international credibility of Montenegro.
“The consequence of broken trust is the fact that NATO members no longer exchange all security information with Montenegro, while the state is expected to restore the standards and procedures for managing classified data, as they were established after joining the North Atlantic Alliance,” Đenero believes.
Speaking about the current government, Đenero assesses that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić took a big political risk by entrusting the security sector to the Democrats.
“The very risky decision of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić was to leave the entire repressive apparatus and security system of Montenegro in the hands of the cadres of the Democrat Alekse Bečić. The lack of seriousness with which they manage these departments is also shown through the inappropriate answer of Minister Dragan Krapović to a legitimate question from a member of parliament, in this case a representative of the opposition, but an opposition that strongly supports the European integration of Montenegro, which should be the key goal of the current administration,” said the analyst.
By acting like that, adds Đenero, the minister who heads one of the most sensitive departments seriously discredits the idea of gathering a broad coalition for Montenegro’s accession to the European Union.
“Without such a political consensus, it is difficult to expect that Montenegro will finish the accession negotiations this year or at the beginning of next year. With his behavior, Krapović shows a serious Achilles’ heel of Spajić’s pro-European administration,” he concluded.
