Montenegro votes in new government with Milojko Spajic prime minister

Following many weeks of discussions, Montenegro’s parliamentary elections took place on Tuesday, resulting in the formation of a new government. The new administration, a coalition of pro-European and pro-Serb parties, is anticipated to lead the tiny Balkan nation in its efforts to join the European Union.

Milojko Spajic, an economist with the Europe Now Movement, will be the new administration’s chairman. It will have 18 ministries and five deputy prime ministers. There will be five parties representing the Albanian minority, as well as the center-right, pro-European Democrats; there will also be the pro-Serbian Socialist People’s Party.

“Our four main foreign policy priorities are full membership… in the EU, active, credible membership in NATO, improvement of good relations with neighbors, and strengthening of the country’s role in multilateral organizations,” Spajic said to the lawmakers.

He stated that economic policies would strive to enhance the living standards of Montenegro’s population of barely 620,000. These policies would include changes enabling higher fiscal revenues, investment, a more robust business climate, and the judiciary.

After discussion into the night, 46 of the 81 members of parliament decided to support the government’s position.

The pro-Serb and pro-Russian coalition For A Better Montenegro, which is led by Andrija Mandic, committed to voting for the Spajic administration in return for the position of parliament speaker and four ministerial seats after a government reshuffle that is provisionally slated to take place in the following year.

The World Bank anticipates that the economy of Montenegro, which embraced the euro univocally in 2002 as its de facto currency and mainly relies on earnings from its Adriatic tourism, will expand by 4.8% in 2023. Montenegro’s economy has adopted the euro as its de facto currency.

After a failed coup attempt in 2016, which the previous government of Montenegro placed the blame for on Russian operatives and Serbian nationalists, Montenegro became a member of NATO in 2017.

Both Russia and the government of Serbia, which is located nearby, have denied any participation in the incident. Russia referred to the charge as “absurd.”

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Montenegro, in contrast to Serbia, supported the European Union in imposing sanctions on Russia, provided assistance to Ukraine, and expelled several Russian diplomats. The Kremlin has added Montenegro to its list of states it views as hostile toward Russia.