Montenegro's new PM says EU, economy are priorities

(PODGORICA) - Montenegro's parliament on Tuesday voted in a new centre-left government headed by veteran Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who vowed to lead the country towards EU membership and boost the crisis-hit economy.

Djukanovic's cabinet was approved by 44 lawmakers in the 81-seat parliament. The new ruling coalition, made up of Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists and several smaller parties, won elections on October 14.

Presenting his cabinet to parliament earlier on Tuesday, Djukanovic said that "integration into the European Union is the main objective" of his government.

"The government is ready to responsibly continue the work of negotiating" in EU accession talks that started in June, he said.

"Every step towards the EU means an improvement in the quality of life and better conditions for (economic) development."

He said the government would also continue its integration into NATO, adding that joining the military alliance would offer "the guarantee of lasting stability for a small Balkans country like Montenegro".

NATO membership "is necessary for us in order not to have our children at war and that our descendants have a reliable future," the 50-year-old prime minister said.

Djukanovic repeated his campaign promise to improve the quality of life of the tiny republic's 625,000 inhabitants, who face unemployment of over 20 percent.

"Overcoming the economic crisis, getting the economy back on its feet and encouraging growth are obviously the most important priority of the government," he said.

The economy grew by 2.7 percent in 2011, but the government forecasts an expansion of just 0.5 percent this year.

Public finances were thrown into disarray in February after the government stepped in to take control of the KAP aluminium plant, a major employer. The state took on 132 million euros ($171 million) in debt, worth about 10 percent of the 2012 budget.

The opposition said it would not support the government because it had failed to offer solutions for the accumulated economic problems.

"You recognised all your past faults and identified the problems, but you offered no solution," Darko Pajovic, the leader of one of the opposition parties, said in the parliamentary debate on the new cabinet.

"We see no strong will to fight organised crime and corruption," Pajovic added.

Djukanovic has been at the centre of power in the tiny Balkan country since the early 1990s, and will be serving as premier for the third time since independence in 2006, when the country broke up a loose union with neighbouring Serbia.