Đukanović for AP: While the EU did not know what to do with the Balkans, Russia did

The current president of Montenegro and candidate in the presidential elections, Milo Đukanović, said in an interview with the Associated Press that he is completely focused on victory and that he believes in it.
I don't mean defeat in the elections. I believe that I will win and that it will be good for the European future of Montenegro, Đukanović told AP.
According to AP, the pro-Western Montenegrin president criticized the European Union for allowing the expansion of Russian influence in the Western Balkans, saying that the unstable region has become a "platform" for anti-EU politics due to the bloc's "negligence".
Russia simply walked into the open space left by the European Union - said Đukanović, alluding to the EU's attitude towards the Balkans.
He adds that in the past 10 years, the EU did not know what to do with the Western Balkans, but Russia did.
It developed its network in the Balkans, he pointed out.
AP also referred to Đukanović's opponent, Jakov Milatović. They characterized him as a political newcomer who has the support of the Montenegrin government, in which there are parties seeking closer relations with Serbia and Russia.
The text adds that, due to the fact that early parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 11, the second round of presidential elections is an important indicator of the future path of Montenegro, a small NATO member country of 620,000 people.
They also estimate that the political deadlock has stopped the country's path to the EU and caused fears of instability while the war rages in Ukraine.
Among other things, Đukanović told AP that the presidential elections represent a choice between his pro-European policy and the "brutal populism" of the current coalition government, which formally supports EU integration, but is dominated by parties that favor closer ties with Serbia and Russia.
AP also reminds that Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialists ruled the country more or less unchallenged for three decades.
The President of Montenegro stated in an interview that the ruling coalition that came to power after the 2020 parliamentary elections devastated Montenegro economically and financially.
According to the Associated Press, the coalition government has promised that Montenegro will stay on its path to the European Union.
Milatović, the president's opponent, also expressed his support for the country's membership in the EU, but Đukanović said the politics of the ruling majority showed otherwise. Milatović was Minister of Economy from December 2020 to April 2022, AP reminds.
Mr. Milatović is a man who is still part of the parliamentary majority that won the elections (2020) and who is directly responsible for these (bad) results. We have come from the fact that European officials consider us a positive example, an example of a country that successfully promotes European values in the Balkans, to the image of a cancer wound in the Western Balkans and the possibility of... suspending negotiations with Montenegro, Đukanović said.
He also said that, after the war in Ukraine began, the EU refocused on the Balkans, and Montenegro had a historic chance to speed up the reforms needed to join the EU. But the current ruling coalition, as he says, failed to do that and instead set out to repair relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.
Would my opponent's victory mean the continuation of that path? I'm more inclined to say yes than no - says the DPS leader.
AP reminds that in 2016, Djukanovic's government claimed to have prevented a coup orchestrated by Russia, which was designed to thwart Montenegro's bid for NATO membership and to establish a government that would instead turn to Serbia and Russia.
The American agency also referred to the fact that Đukanović first came to power at the age of 29, and quotes his words that the governments he led managed to achieve independence peacefully, stay away from Balkan conflicts and preserve stability.
Corruption, which was considered a key problem during his rule in Montenegro, exists in all countries of the world, he said.
M. J.