Krivokapić and Bečić host reception on Independence Day

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić and President of the Parliament of Montenegro Aleksa Bečić hosted a reception on Independence Day - 21 May and the 15th anniversary of Montenegro's independence.

Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić said that the years after the restoration of independence were featured by deviating from and breaking the social norms, erosion of moral values, hypocrisy.

"Today, we are creating a state turned towards each citizen. This is the phrase that must be very clear in our lives: a civic-oriented system. This has not been the case so far", Prime Minister Krivokapić said.

Prime Minister Krivokapić pointed out that the Government was fully committed to tackling crime in politics and economy, and that the new government had a common obligation to fight against phenomena that threaten Montenegro. The Prime Minister emphasised that the most difficult moment for Montenegro was the battle with the pandemic, which we managed to bring to an acceptable level.

"But that is possible only by adhering to the measures and by creating the preconditions for economic prosperity to happen. If we turn to patriotism based on commitment, respect for professional ethics, respect for each other, without looking at who is who, Montenegro will be the best place under the Sun. Montenegro must be a civil, democratic and ecological state, that is our need, that is the most important thing for the future and its prosperity," Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić said.

President of the Parliament Bečić said that reconciliation and harmony, multi-ethnic and multi-religious harmony, togetherness and coexistence were the only guardians of our statehood and our independence, adding that: "Attempts to extremise the state of affairs and bring discord among citizens, emphasise different nationalisms and present them as supreme patriotism, where the other side, inevitably, becomes treacherous - undermine both our statehood and our independence".

He said that Montenegro could be successful only as an institutionally powerful, economically stable, legally secure, morally renewed and civilly strong state, adding that these were the strongest foundations of its eternity.

"The civic concept is a concept which has no alternative, the only concept I believe in, and I strive to it with all my heart, because a reconciled, unified and civilly strong Montenegro is a precondition for its recovery," the President of the Parliament said.

President Bečić stressed that with every fibre of his being, he believed in Montenegro as a successful European and Euro-Atlantic state, adding the following: "I dedicate every moment to work on this project, because I believe that in the family of European nations, together with our neighbours, we will become a more developed and prosperous part of the world. We have been deserving this place for a long time".

String Ensemble of the Montenegrin Symphony Orchestra and a soloist Mirka Šćepanović performed during the festive part of the programme, as well as opera singer Ms Emilija Minić, while the present also had an opportunity to hear excerpt from the Epistle of Petar I Petrović Njegoš to the tribe of Njeguši of 1827. Also, in honour of Independence Day, fireworks were set off from the building of the Parliament of Montenegro.

The reception was attended by representatives of the judiciary, Montenegrin MPs, ministers in the Government of Montenegro, religious dignitaries, a representative of the University of Montenegro, members of the diplomatic corps, leaders of trade unions and other organisations and institutions.