WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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SOURCE: ANTENA M – AUTHOR: M.J. GDNUS
The Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget is discussing the draft laws on the ratification of two agreements signed by the Government with the United Arab Emirates.
On the Committee's agenda is the Draft Law on the ratification of the Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Tourism and Real Estate Development, and the Draft Law on the ratification of the Agreement on Economic Cooperation.
We remind you that the deputies of the Montenegrin Parliament will discuss today the agreements with the United Arab Emirates. The agenda has been supplemented with two items related to the ratification of the agreement with the UAE.
Course of the session:
The Committee session continued
The Committee session continued, attended by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
Mehmed Zenka said that civil Montenegro is being defended in Ulcinj.
The Chairman of the Committee, Boris Mugoša, said that it would cause damage to an important partner such as the United Arab Emirates.
"You will adopt something tonight that has never been adopted, this is not a framework agreement. This agreement defines everything".
Ana Novaković Đurović from GP URA said that the Government decided to violate the Law and not organize a public debate.
"In the explanation, you said that there was no reason for urgency, so we heard the information that we had to declare ourselves tonight because you are traveling to the USA. Your attitude towards citizens, public debate, etc. was clear even when you presented the Velje Brdo project, because you closed the public debate and prevented citizens from saying what they think. You are the Prime Minister, the man who is formally the most powerful in the country and you do not run a private company but the state, you have an obligation to protect the public interest. With this agreement, you have trampled on all the laws of this country, you are insulting our intelligence", said Novaković Đurović.
She further asked the Prime Minister whether the UAE would guarantee the investment, adding "if the state gets into trouble with the entity, the UAE no longer guarantees anything, is that true?"
Genci Nimanbegu initially told Chairman Boris Mugoša that they did not count Forca as part of the government.
"If someone wants to throw Albanians out of power, they are doing it now, with these things. We are a minority that has assessed that we should be in power, I think that is wrong, and I am saying this responsibly. Someone gave Alabaru my phone number. You know that I rarely say harsh words, in this case the process is such that we all need to be on our toes. This man is a Prime Minister who makes mistakes, his mistakes are colossal, which will cost us dearly and will endanger all of us. He talks about a mega project at seven meetings," said Nimanbegu.
The President of the Municipality of Ulcinj said that he cannot give up defending Ulcinj for several reasons.
"I cannot give up defending Ulcinj, because paying VAT is the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, Novica Vuković, not Genci Nimanbegu. Illegal construction is the responsibility of Slaven Radunović, who does not have building inspectors, because they were arrested a year ago, not during his mandate," he told Nimanbegu.
He pointed out that there are no collectors because Morsko dobro, among other things, takes millions from us and does not invest anything.
Nurković: Anything that is not in the interest of the people of Ulcinj would be a mistake
Bosniak Party MP Mirsad Nurković said that the agreement has been talked about for a month now, and that then one cannot talk about non-transparency.
"Do we want anything to be done in Montenegro, or not? We are all for it to be done, it seems to me. I am not for anything to be done in any municipality without the consent of the local community, neither in Ulcinj nor in Rožaje. Anything that is not in the interest of the people of Ulcinj would be a mistake, and I think that even the investor would not agree to build in that case. Alabar says that he asked for one tender, that he never asked for 13 kilometers of coastline, that he has no projects in Montenegro..", he said.
Spajić: Many are afraid of cooperation with the UAE because undesirable information could surface
Spajić said that he understands that many are afraid of the process of cooperation with the UAE because some security-related information could surface that would not be desirable to those who are in politics now or were in the past.
"Do I guarantee 35 billion? I can't guarantee it, but the agreements allow us to attract these investments, and the potential is to attract over 35 billion... 35 billion is a conservative figure and I am convinced that it can be higher. I cannot guarantee for the UAE, but the potential is huge," said Spajić, adding that the investments do not go into the state coffers, but into the economy and GDP.
Andjušić asks Nimanbegu: Will you resign from the government if the agreements are adopted
DPS MP Mihailo Andjušić pointed out that the MPs were informed late that these agreements would be discussed today.
He asked the President of the Municipality of Ulcinj Gencij Nimanbegu whether he would resign from the government if these agreements were adopted by the Parliament.
He told Prime Minister Spajić that more time should have been given to organize this discussion in a timely manner.
DPS MP Nikola Rakočević says they were only informed yesterday that the Government wants to expand the agenda today session of the Parliament.
"As the opposition, we asked for the agenda to be expanded, but to stop there and give time to MPs and the public to familiarize themselves with the agreement. However, now we have a situation where the plenum will start late at night. DPS cannot support the agreements that are put on the agenda of this parliament. We will not support them for several reasons, the main ones being: transparency of procedures, insufficient communication with the public and the content of the agreement itself. However, what you are proposing will not improve the situation when it comes to investments in Montenegro," said Rakočević.
He adds that the agreement is controversial in several aspects and emphasizes that we should have first signed the agreement with the UAE in accordance with our legislation and the Constitution.
"You won't think we're naive, that we have a specific investor and procedures and we supposedly don't know what the project is. Surely someone knows, but what's important is that the public doesn't know. That's why it's unacceptable to do this important strategic partnership in this way. You've avoided everything that should have accompanied the implementation of such a project and the preparation of cooperation with such a credible investor," Rakočević points out.
PES MP Jelena Nedović points out that the agreement between Montenegro and the UAE is in line with the Constitution of Montenegro and the obligations arising from the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU.
"We have the example of Italy, which signed a similar deal with the UAE, as did certain EU officials. Implementation will be within the framework of domestic legislation. I don't understand how the opposition keeps saying that it's not against investments and now they say that the whole case is not transparent. You were at meetings with the Prime Minister, the agreement was also on the Government's website," says Nedović.
Miloš Konatar from URE states that if they are not wise, they could cause irreparable damage to future generations.
"Everyone with good intentions in Montenegro is against the way this important decision is being made and implemented in Montenegro. The Prime Minister and Mandić themselves said that this is a historic moment, and then they are trying to decide as soon as possible in an abnormally short period of time in a way that makes us all believe in the good will of the Prime Minister and future investors who will come to our country," Konatar points out.
He states that he had a dilemma about how to talk to MPs from the parliamentary majority.
"Is there any other argument that we can use to influence our colleagues from the parliamentary majority not to do something that is not good," Konatar says, adding:
"Spajić called for consultations with the political party when he had already signed everything, when the letter could not be corrected. This is an insult to intelligence," he said.
The Director of the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS), Vanja Ćalović Marković, states that the same case is in Ulcinj as "Belgrade on the Water", which is being built by the same investor.
"The state of Serbia benefits from Belgrade on the Water, where apartments worth over 800 million euros have been sold so far. Do you know how much it benefits? Less than 10 million in 4 years. So the state of Serbia has received less than 4 apartments, because those apartments are fabulously priced, of course, because a large part of the money is laundered through that housing construction," says Ćalović Marković.
