This article originally appeared at IN4S translated by Stevo Marjanović exclusively for SouthFront
Famous Austrian diplomat and one of the best European experts when it comes to Balkans, Wolfgang Petritsch, said that the demonstrators are not a problem in Montenegro, but corruption and unemployment.
He said again, that Milo Djukanovic has been in power far too long and that he has been abusing his position for personal gain.
Djukanovic’s party, reacted immediately stating that Petritsch “is looking everything through his personal prism.”
Petritsch quoted German news magazine Der Spiegel about Djukanovic: “He is simultaneously part of a system that is characterized by corruption and organized crime.”
Petritsch said that citizens of Montenegro should be the ones to decide on NATO membership.
“It is certain that Russians do not like NATO. However, citizens of Montenegro should decide. No doubt: it would be important for Montenegro to join NATO. But the country must transform, renew economy, to correct errors that have occurred because of the misuse in the economy, by your people, but also by the Russians who managed your businesses”, he said.
Petritsch condemned the policy brutality during the opposition protest on 24th October.
“Police brutality is not good and it leads to further alienation of citizens from the government. Protesters are not threat to the stability of the country, but corruption and high unemployment. Young generations deserve a better future. I meet more and more young citizens of Montenegro in Vienna, they are searching for work. They are angry at their government because they do not see a future for themselves in Montenegro. NATO can’t solve this problem”, he said.
