Page 21 - SE Outlook Regions 2023

government.

A coalition between 20 parties ranging from pro-Russian to pro-Western
took power after the August 2020 general election and formed the first
government without the participation of the Democratic Party of
Socialists (DPS) that had ruled the country for over three decades.

Since the autumn of 2022, Montenegro has been going through the
deepest political crisis in decades as President Milo Djukanovic is
refusing to give a mandate to Miodrag Lekic of the civic Demos party to
form a government despite his nomination by 41 out of 81 MPs.
Djukanovic claims the current parliament should be dissolved and an
early vote should be called. This is now the most likely option after a
falling out within the coalition of 20 small parties that had previously
been united behind Lekic.

A survey carried out in November by the Centre for Civil Education
showed that the majority of Montenegrins see a general election as the
best solution to the current political crisis. According to the poll, 33% of
Montenegrins want early parliamentary and presidential elections, while
another 30% want just a snap general election.

Only 19% of Montenegrins believe that the current parliament can
produce another government that would work properly.

At the same time, trust in institutions remains extremely low. The trust in
political parties is the lowest at just 1.9%. 76% of people believe that
politicians do not take any responsibility for their actions.

1.8 Politics - North Macedonia

2022 was one of the most challenging years for North Macedonia after
the Social Democrats-led government, which came to power in 2017,
signed the bilateral protocol with Bulgaria in July, which opened the way
for the official start of the long-awaited EU accession talks under one
pre-condition which should be fulfilled in 2023.

Namely, North Macedonia should amend the constitution to include
ethnic Bulgarians, a move strongly contested by the opposition parties
in the country. The amendments can be adopted with a two-thirds vote
in the 120-seat parliament, which requires support from opposition
MPs. The main opposition VMRO-DPMNE and the small Left party are
against these changes.

EU officials repeatedly point out that North Macedonia needs to make
constitutional changes in order to progress on its EU path. At the end of
November, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in Skopje
that Germany wants to see North Macedonia in the EU as soon as
possible and he urged MPs to adopt the constitutional changes as a

21 SE Outlook 2023 www.intellinews.com