As of 4/28/2022 9:31 PM
Montenegro’s parliament elected a new pro-Western government. The minority cabinet replaces the pro-Serb majority government for which parliament voted no-confidence.
Montenegro’s parliament elected a new pro-Western government. Forty-five out of 81 deputies voted in favor of the resolution and three opposed it. However, environmental liberal Prime Minister Dritan Abazowicz heads a minority government. The vibrant alliance of the Greens, Social Democrats, ethnic Albanian and Bosnian parties and the pro-Serb party depends on the tolerance of President Milo Djukanovic’s DPS.
The new Prime Minister Abazovich heads a minority government.
Photo: dpa
“The rule of law and economic development will be the main pillars of the new government,” Abazovic said in his program statement before the vote. His government will “unlock the institutions” and proceed with negotiations on accession to the European Union. Parliament session was moved to the historic capital of Cetinje.
Deputies of other pro-Serb parties boycotted them. They considered the conditions of their recruitment illegal.
The government was overthrown by a vote of no confidence
Abazovic’s government replaces a predominantly pro-Serb government led by Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić. His successor had it as deputy prime minister. The irreconcilable differences between the pro-Serb and pro-Western liberals paralyzed this government. A change of government finally made it possible for Abazovich to separate from Krivokapić.
For more than 30 years, pro-Western President Djukanovic and his DPS party have defined the country’s policies, which led it to negotiate independence from Serbia in 2006. At the same time, his rule has been criticized for corruption, links to organized crime, and attacks on independent journalists. In the August 2020 parliamentary elections, the DPS lost its majority in Parliament for the first time and was forced to enter the opposition.
The Krivokapić government, formed in December 2020, included popular movements such as the Abazovic Ora party, but was largely pro-Serb. The pro-Serb agenda soon replaced the rule of law and European integration. Accession negotiations with the European Union, which began in 2012, have made no progress in the past two years.