Milo Djukanovic - President-elect of Montenegro in 2018. According to experts, he has actually ruled the country for the past three decades. Most of the planned work is related to European integration.
Milo Djukanovic is a Montenegrin statesman and politician. In almost two decades of his active political career, he was not only able to separate Montenegro from Yugoslavia, but also to raise the country's economy to the European level.
Biography
Born on 15.02. 1962 in Niksic. His family is considered one of the oldest in Montenegro. After high school he entered the Faculty of Economics at Veljko Vlahović University. During his student years he was a good basketball player. Many of the qualities developed in training were useful to him in political life.
In 1986 Milo Djukanovic became a member of the Presidium of the Socialist Youth. For his straightforwardness, his comrades called him "razor". Together with his friends, the young and ambitious man decided to push back the old government. The campaign was named "anti-bureaucratic revolution".
At the age of 26, he becomes one of the de facto leaders of Montenegro, although by that time he had not yet held official posts. In 1991 he became prime minister. 6 years later, he is running for president. In the first round, he lost 2,000 votes to his rival, and in the second, he outstripped him. On November 25, 2002, Milo Djukanovic resigned from the presidency in order to return as prime minister.
The politician's family is considered one of the richest in Bakan. This has been confirmed by numerous audits by independent companies. On the accounts of the president himself there are about 15 million dollars, the family's property is 10 times more.
Milo Djukanovic in 2018
In April 2018, the presidential campaign was launched. Among the favorites was the leader of the ruling party. Politicians note that never before has the election campaign been so short - it began a couple of weeks before the vote. The presidential elections took place in the shadow of the 2016 parliamentary elections. Then the authorities accused the opposition of attempting a coup d'etat. Russia and Serbia were also accused of involvement in the assassination attempt.
The start of the presidential campaign also coincided with the government's decision to declare one Russian diplomat "persona non grata" and to deprive the honorary consul of the Russian Federation of accreditation.
On April 16, it became known that in the first and second round of elections, he won. Based on the counting of the data, it became clear that Milo Djukanovic won almost 55% of the vote. The president was elected for five years, but the power and leadership of the state over the past decades has already been in the hands of a politician, regardless of his position.
Political course
Throughout his reign, Milo Djukanovic pursued a political course focused on close cooperation with Europe and distance from Russia. Occupying high government posts, he pursued a policy of rapprochement with the West, Montenegro's accession to NATO and the European Union. In 2016, documents were signed on the country's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance.
The plans of the new incumbent president include European integration. This idea finds more support among the population than joining NATO. However, almost all experts agree in one opinion - relations between Russia and Montenegro will not improve, but will continue to "cool". The state has already joined the anti-Russian sanctions.
Due to the deterioration of relations between the two countries, the large Russian diaspora in Montenegro is in an ambiguous situation. Investments of Russian businessmen continue to fall, interest in real estate in Montenegro is also decreasing.
Milo Djukanovic announced that he would bring Montenegro to the EU before the end of his five-year term. He noted that the population at this time will have to "tighten their belts"
