Montenegrin Defence Minister Bans Communications With State Leaders

“Disconnected communication with the cabinets of the Council for Defence and Security members, as well as with the cabinets of ministers in Government, without my approval”, is said at the minister's order, which dates September 10, 2024.

Members of the Council for Defence and Security are the president of the state, the chairman of the Assembly and head of the Government. This body commands the Army of Montenegro.

Political analyst Boris Maric says the order reflects distrust among different branches of power and the defence sector.

If within the state administration itself and with regard to the cabinets of the president of state and assembly we have a relationship that suggests the need for filtering information, what then can the media and civil society” expect, Mariq says of Radio Free Europe (REL).

Even for former Defence Minister Predrag Boskovic, Krapovic's move is an indication of the no-confidence “between key actors of current power”.

Asked by the REL for reasons, and if issuing this order shows distrust at the top of power, Minister Krapovic has given no answer.

Who is with whom in Malaysian power?

Krapovic is a official of the Democrats, the winning majority party that toppled the 30-year Democratic Party of Socialists of Milo Djukanovic's elections in August 2020.

Since the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Spajic and the head of state, Milatovic, are in a fierce political conflict, though two years ago they founded Europe Movement Now.

Their change has led to new political alliances.

Thus, in the elections in Podgorica on 29 September, the Movement Europe Now and Spajik and the Democrats of Krapovic are competing in the coalition, while Milatovic's faction from the European Movement has now joined former Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic's civic movement.

Democratic Front parties are competing with several small prorus parties.

What does the Ministry of Defence command contain?

In Krapovic's order, which forbids communication without his approval with ministries and employees in Milatovici's cabinets, Mandiqi and Spajic, it is also said that disrespecting the order is subject to disciplinary responsibility.

“For implementation of the order are responsible for Montenegro's Army Chief of General Staff, director general of directors and heads of organisational units”, Krapovic wrote.

He also, at the recent meeting of the Council for Protection, requested the dismissal of Chief of General Staff, Brigadier General Zoran Lazarevic, due to, as he noted, “the need for restructuring of the” framework.

Lazarus has been on the job since June 2022.

The downloading, however, opposed Milatoviqi, while Krapovic's proposal backed Me persecuted and Spajic.

The dismissal did not occur, as Council for Defence members make consensus decisions.

Krapovic, on September 18th, asked Milatovic to quickly call a meeting of the Council for Protection to dismiss General Lazarevic and appoint a new chief of General Staff.

This, among other things, is highlighted in a Defence Ministry report.

Former Defence Minister Boskovovic says Krapovic, when he made the decision to stop communication, relied on the Law on State Administration, under which the minister may be able to provide <x0th> direct or prevent actions in a certain situation that has general significance”.

“It's hard that the communications ban could be of general importance, instead of”, tells of REL Predrag Boskovic, who was defence minister at the last DPS Government.

He considers Krapovic's move to testify to the collapse of institutions and reflect the situation in the current political majority “this mutual hostility, which is primarily an expression of the desire for full party control of the sectors that lead, leads to the endangering of the national interests of the state that governs, completely destroying institutions that run”.

Boskovic stresses that the current political majority's actions are an example of “populism related to ignorance and distrust” and that “the minister of defence's latest genocide speaks of his democratic capacity and of his party”.

But, today, in Montenegro everything goes through. There are few critical media that are ready to call holders of highest state positions for public responsibility”, Boskovic concludes.

Mariq: Orders are a sign of weakness

Former Government Secretary-General Boris Maric says orders as a formal way of communication are usually avoided as they show the state administration's weakness:

And not just her. There's gone a step further because it's about the cabinets of the president of state, Parliament and Government, all members of the government who are ministers, their cabinets”.

Maric says the order makes sense if someone is suspected to distribute information and beyond the signed declaration of storing data secrecy:

But as for the Council for Protection members, this is not a game, because they have access to all acts and confidential information”.

According to him, the ban sends a message that there is a problem of confidence in the Ministry of Defence in the relationship between the military and the civilian part.

Maric says it is especially problematic that the minister in the order has appointed the leaders responsible for his implementation, even though he has not mentioned the names.

It's problematic that not all officials are responsible, but Chief of General Staff, directors of directors and bosses. They then, in the sense of hierarchy, should push me down to”, he explains.

Without denying that there is information in the Krapovic resort that cannot be shared, Maric says it is not regulated by orders, but there are legal procedures for this.

Comparison of the New Government and the Old

Maric finds that Montenegro, even after four years of the DPS government's collapse, still has problems with democratic mechanisms and especially transparency.

Maric says that party needed less such acts:

There is no doubt that even there were strong, perhaps even stronger party wars than we have now on the political scene, but they chose them in the party hierarchy and some unwritten rules. This, of course, did not contribute to the development of democracy in Montenegro”.

Since the fall of DPS power in August 2020, three governments and two compositions of Parliament have been changed to Montenegro.

At least twice, all directors of state companies and public institutions have also been changed.