Representative of the “Europe Now” Movement and potential candidate for Prime Minister of Montenegro, Milojko Spajić, officially began negotiations for the new government on Thursday. Initially, talks were held with the moderate Montenegrin party, “Democrats”, and with the coalition “For the Future of Montenegro”, a pro-Serb political party.
The “Europe Now” Movement, which won the most seats in parliament, a total of 24 mandates, is expected to hold negotiations with minority parties in Montenegro, two Albanian coalitions, and the Croatian party.
“After the announcement of the final results, the conditions for starting negotiations officially have been met. The proposed principles will be the basis for the formation of the government, and we expect a constructive contribution from future partners in the negotiation process. The ‘Europe Now’ Movement aims to create a new government committed to improving the quality of life for the citizens of Montenegro and accelerating European integration,” said Spajić.
The leadership of the “Europe Now” Movement has approved ten principles for the formation of the 44th government of Montenegro, which have been sent to potential partners in the future government, except for the Democratic Party of Socialists of former President Milo Đukanović and the URA Movement of outgoing Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, whom the “Europe Now” Movement does not want to participate in the new government.
The European Union has called on political actors in Montenegro to form the parliament and the new government as soon as possible, so that they can “stimulate reforms related to EU accession as quickly as possible”.
EU representatives Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Enlargement Oliver Várhelyi stated that they appreciate Montenegro’s commitment to EU accession.
“We encourage them to quickly focus on building a consensus on the necessary priority actions to improve Montenegro on its path to the EU, particularly in the field of the rule of law,” the joint statement of EU representatives said.
On June 11, parliamentary elections were held in Montenegro, which were assessed as free and without significant irregularities by domestic and international observers.
The “Europe Now” Movement, formed last year, won the highest number of votes, followed by the coalition led by the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović, whose party held power for over 30 years in Montenegro.
Montenegro is considered a regional leader in the process of EU accession and has opened all chapters in the accession negotiations. However, due to political and institutional crises, there has been no intergovernmental conference since December 2021 due to insufficient progress in the necessary reforms for the accession process.
According to the forecasts of the “Europe Now” Movement, the new government should have 22 ministries and departments and four deputy prime ministers.
The first session of the Montenegrin parliament is scheduled for next week, on July 27, at 12:00 PM.
