“Masks have fallen and everyone has shown their faces in Montenegro, but we have also seen the faces of other countries. We have seen who the real allies of Montenegro are, and now we know very well what we can count on in the period ahead. ” said the President of the Atlantic Council of Montenegro, Savo Kentera, at a conference organized by the Center for Foreign Policy and the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The topic of the conference was Western Balkans in the context of the war in Ukraine.

Kentera pointed out that the previous government had shown no sincere intentions about Montenegro’s pro-Western orientation, and that the delay in imposing sanctions on Russia over its aggression against Ukraine was an indication of that. As he says, it revealed everything we knew and what we warned about from the Atlantic Council. According to him, August 30, 2020 is still considered one of the best things that happened to Montenegro because, in addition to the change of government, we realized how much potential Montenegro has and how much it was ahead in the EU integrations compared to other countries, and “how much we suddenly began to stagnate and stay behind the others and how close we were to Russia at one point.”

The war in Ukraine exposed the intentions of certain parties, individuals, and countries in relation to Montenegro and the Balkans, “so now we can, it seems to me, much easier and more decisively enter into a formation of a government that must be, above all, a completely pro-Western, pro-European, and a pro-NATO government, which will not leave anyone in any dilemma when it comes to Montenegro. “

Montenegro wants the best relations with everyone, and as Kentera states, “if someone does not want to build such relations with Montenegro, and if someone wants to pursue their interests that conflict with the interests of Montenegro and the interests of NATO, and to carry it into effect here, then they must get an adequate answer for it. “
Commenting on the formation of the new government, the president of the Atlantic Council said that Montenegro paid the price by implementing the wrong policy for over a year and a half and that it was time for Montenegro to unequivocally make everyone aware of its pro-Western orientation. All those who think well for this country, who live in this country and who want to build their future here together with all the others who live here, and to really stand for a better future, then they are more than welcome to participate tomorrow in that government and to really contribute to a better quality of life in Montenegro. ” Kentera concluded.