Montenegro President Nominates Pro-Western Party Leader as PM-Designate

SARAJEVO (Reuters) – Montenegro’s President Jakov Milatovic on Thursday nominated Milojko Spajic, a pacesetter of a pro-Western get together that gained a parliamentary vote in June, as prime minister-designate tasked to kind a authorities.

Spajic and Milatovic lead the Europe Now Motion (PES) which gained most votes within the June snap elections after Milo Djukanovic, the long-time ruler of Montenegro, misplaced the presidential election in April and stepped down after 30 years in energy.

Milatovic mentioned he would suggest Spajic because the PM-designate after 44 lawmakers within the 81-seat parliament pledged to help him, most of them from PES coalition but in addition from events representing ethnic minorities, corresponding to Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians.

A number of extra events mentioned they’d help Spajic if he reaches an settlement on the federal government which have to be fashioned within the subsequent 90 days, Milatovic mentioned.

“We’re on the crossroads which can ultimately decide our future,” Milatovic mentioned at a information convention in Cetinje, the previous royal capital of Montenegro. He added that the tiny Adriatic nation of simply over 620,000 individuals wants stability after the collapse of two governments since 2020.

Some analysts doubt that Spajic, a 36-year-old economist who served as finance minister within the 2020-2022 authorities of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, will be capable of kind a steady authorities out of Montenegro’s fragmented politics.

Montenegro began EU accession negotiations in 2012 and hopes to hurry up its integration with the rich 27-member bloc after adopting a complete set of authorized frameworks aligned with the European Union.

Milatovic mentioned that in consultations, all events agreed that priorities had been to hurry up EU integration, enhance the rule of legislation and the usual of residing.

“Our final purpose have to be a civic, democratic and economically developed Montenegro which can turn into a full member of the European Union as quickly as doable, for which we want the total institutional consolidation,” he mentioned.

(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic and Daria Sito-Sucic; Enhancing by Nick Macfie)

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