(Podgorica, 19 June 2013) – We’re certain that every citizen today will ask what the purpose of Montenegro’s Assembly is, because it has clearly subordinated its actions to the interests of tycoons instead of the citizens who elected them.
The law on the ‘KAP tax’ was adopted thanks to the votes of 42 MPs. The motion passed the first reading by only 1 vote.
The deciding vote, judging by the electronic voting data was given by Ranko Krivokapic. His voice decided that citizens should pay the debts of the multibillionaire Oleg Deripaska, an individual who has destroyed an enormous swathe of our industrial base.
This same Krivokapic, not so long ago, was claiming that the parliament he leads would find a way to protect citizens from the poor decisions that are designed to cover up previous policy errors.
With his deciding vote, Krivokapic confirmed that he is ready to protect the public interest only declaratively and only when this wouldn’t infringe on the interests of tycoons.
In this way, the Assembly’s president betrayed the state’s interests and those of all citizens, especially of those who had voted for him and his party. He has thus clearly demonstrated that his rhetoric about the KAP and his alleged defence of the public interest was nothing more than simple demagogy.
We call on all citizens to demand accountability from their MPs and to confront the President of the Assembly and all other MPs who voted to stuff their hands further into our pockets – in order to take from our families so they can cover the debts of a multibillionaire that destroyed KAP – with questions about why the state and public interest were betrayed.
