Djukanovic: Montenegro is at a crossroads again, it can go towards Europe or Balkan nationalism

2023-05-19 14:33:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Djukanovic: Montenegro is at a crossroads again, it can go towards Europe or

The outgoing president of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, said today in Cetinje that "no one can dispute the historical importance of the results achieved during his government".

This was said by Djukanovic at the press conference, held in Cetinje.

Everything done in the past years, he emphasized, is the legitimization of modern Montenegro. He said that it is clear that any political change does not mean change for the better.

"Montenegro has shown readiness for changes that speak for the emancipation of the state", declared Djukanovic, who is also the former leader of the DPS with which he led Montenegro for more than three decades. He will be replaced in the post of president by Jakov Milatovi?, who will be inaugurated tomorrow at the Assembly of Montenegro in Podgorica.

Djukanovic said that peace and multi-ethnic harmony were preserved in Montenegro and that in the 1990s the country was spared destruction during the NATO campaign.

"Peacefully restored and internationally recognized state, a member of NATO, in the lobby of the European Union, the most developed economy in the Western Balkans. The projects of the tunnel of Sozina, Lushtica, wind parks have been implemented... All this is the identification of Montenegro", said Gjukanovic.

"During the drama of the Yugoslav war, peace and stability were chosen. The referendum was not an act of restoring the citizenship we were denied, nor a democratic celebration. It was an expression of the growing self-confidence of the citizens and faith in their own abilities. After that, a turn was made towards the European cultural circle, it was not a simple undertaking", said Djukanovi?.

"This is not a finished work in the mandate of a government, nor can it be finished. Our country is still in the early stages of the emancipation process," he said, among other things.

He emphasized that Montenegro desperately needs a stable, competent, patriotic government, which will affirm the civil state and multi-ethnic democracy and achieve EU membership.

"The extraordinary elections are the first great chance and the great hope, because Montenegro is once again at a strategic crossroads, from which it can return to Europe or to Balkan nationalism," said Djukanovic./ CNA.al