New Montenegrin Govt Awaits MPs’ Approval Amid Political Uncertainty

Prime Minister-designate Dritan Abazovic at a press conference in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

"The government will have five priority areas of action. We will be focused on the fight against corruption, more sustainable investments, EU integration, sustainable development and environmental protection," Abazovic said.

"Only with mutual understanding, respect and readiness to put the state's interests before personal and party interests can this state move forward," he added.

Abazovic, the leader of Black on White, the smallest bloc in the former ruling coalition, was proposed as prime minister on March 2.

The proposal was backed by his own Black on the White bloc, the ruling Socialist People's Party, the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, the Social Democratic Party, the Bosniak Party, the Social Democrats and two ethnic Albanian coalitions.

On April 20, Abazovic said that the mandate of his government will be one year, and that its main task will be to prepare state institutions for next spring's early elections.

The new minority government will have four deputy prime ministers and 20 ministers. Abazovic's Black on White bloc will have the interior minister, minister of economic development and tourism, minister of European affairs, minister of ecology and urbanism and minister without portfolio.

The pro-Serbian Socialist People's Party will have the minister of justice, minister of finance, minister of agriculture, health minister, minister of education and minister for sport.

The Social Democratic Party will have the minister of defence and foreign affairs minister, the minority Bosniak Party will have the minister of capital investments and minister of labor and social care, and two...