The reform of electoral legislation is a key test of Montenegro’s readiness to accept and meet European standards, said Nevenka Vuksanović, Director of the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM).

In an interview with the MINA agency, Vuksanović said that implementing electoral reform is Montenegro’s obligation and assessed that the European Union (EU) will play a central role in this and “push us into the next phase of development.”

Asked how she sees the announcement by the Europe Now Movement (PES) that it will seek a different model for the functioning of the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform, if the opposition continues to boycott the work of that body, she said that she absolutely agrees with the position expressed by the opposition – that then the chances for cooperation will be even smaller.

“That is logical, then this is not a dialogue that the parliamentary majority is trying to establish with the opposition, but rather a circumvention of existing rules,” Vuksanović said, assessing that this is not a smart solution.

She said she assumed that the PES would receive advice from the EU not to pursue this.

“EU representatives said that Montenegro, at this moment, must under no circumstances allow any kind of stagnation on issues that are important in the pre-accession period,” added Vuksanović.

According to her, electoral reform is not a new, but an old issue.

“Every new political turn begins with the formation of an electoral reform committee, but in its current composition, that committee actually has almost no effectiveness,” Vuksanović stated.

Electoral reform, she said, entails a lot, and the opposition and the government agree on only one issue, that local elections be held on one day.

“On everything else, I mean even on the issue of open lists, which Montenegro is not obliged to introduce, we do not have absolute agreement,” said Vuksanović.

She stated that very clear messages are coming from the EU – that agreement must be reached.

“I think that the European Commission’s report also gave us a very clear signal that there is nothing to gain from joining the EU if our political scene does not implement electoral reform. If we do not implement electoral legislation reform, I think that will be a red signal for the EU,” said Vuksanović.

Asked whether there is political will to implement electoral reform, or whether parties are only declaratively advocating for it, she assessed that it has always been an issue around which there has been no true political will.

This, as Vuksanović added, is evident from the fact that no convocation of the electoral reform committee has brought anything new or anything better.

“I think the pressure is significantly greater now, because at this moment all political entities, whether from the parliamentary majority or the opposition, are aware that we are under the watchful eye of the EU and that they will have to make cuts in all those segments in which neither side is making that cut,” said Vuksanović.

According to her, the lack of political will has nothing to do with whether someone is in the opposition or in a position.

Vuksanović said that holding elections in one day would be ripe for the Montenegrin political system and that it would represent a step forward, but that it would not be beneficial to political parties.

On the other hand, as she stated, the introduction of open lists would reduce the role and importance of parties.

“This would be an excellent way forward for the civic orientation of Montenegro, in terms of democracy, transparency, and citizen participation in democratic processes, but for the political parties themselves, it is not necessarily a good solution,” believes Vuksanović.

Commenting on the EU’s proposal to consult the Venice Commission in order to resolve the political crisis, she said that it is clear that when two parties cannot resolve a dispute, that dispute will be resolved by a third party.

“Perhaps in this case of general political disagreement it would be useful to try involving a third party. We have also seen in the examples of local elections that political entities on the Montenegrin political scene are, however, unable to reach an agreement,” said Vuksanović.

She assessed that she would not be able to reach an agreement between the opposition and the government on her own.

“The opposition, justifiably, from the point of view of, as they have defined it, violations of constitutional principles, does not want to go beyond something that is fundamentally its position and is very legitimately using the mechanism of political obstruction at this moment, whether of committees or of parliament,” said Vuksanović.

According to her, the increased number of meetings and visits by EU representatives is an indicator of the inability of the government and the opposition to reach an agreement independently.

She emphasized that it would be important for citizens to resolve this issue.

When asked whether it could be expected that minority parties would leave the executive branch, given certain statements by the leaders of those parties, Vuksanović responded that the likelihood of that happening was low.

By doing so, she added, they would lose their position in the historic chance to be part of the government that will bring Montenegro into the EU.

Vuksanović said that she does not think that a government crisis is realistic by 2027.

“I think that PES will stick to its European structure, because that is the task they were given, and that they will try to “control” Mandić during this period,” said Vuksanović.

Asked to comment on the initiative to hold bilateral consultations between Montenegro and Croatia with the aim of resolving open issues between the two countries, she stated that this was necessary and that Montenegro must improve relations with Croatia.

“One chapter could not be closed precisely because of poor neighborly relations with Croatia. In general, the EU itself will not look favorably on neighborly relations influencing enlargement policy,” said Vuksanović.

Neighborly relations, she added, are part of the enlargement package, but must not be a segment that will hinder a certain country from joining the EU.

“That doesn’t mean that this is our lucky circumstance and that we got away with it because the EU will take our side,” said Vuksanović.

Montenegro, she said, must stop damaging relations with Croatia.

“I don’t think that Croatia will strain relations to such an extent – that it will protest and prevent any next step by Montenegro on its path towards the EU, but it can definitely make it significantly more difficult for us,” said Vuksanović.

She believes that it is extremely important to start a conversation with Croatia, in order to minimize the damage that has already been done.

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