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Europe Now!

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The Europe Now Movement (Montenegrin and Serbian: Pokret Evropa sad! / Покрет Европа сад!; PES!), sometimes stylised with an exclamation mark, is a centrist political organization in Montenegro,[3][4] founded in June 2022 by the former Ministers of Finance and the Economy, Milojko Spajić and Jakov Milatović, respectively. It describes itself as an economy-focused and anti-corruption movement, that is economically liberal.[5]

Europe Now Movement
Pokret Evropa sad
Покрет Европа сад
AbbreviationPES
PresidentMilojko Spajić
Vice presidentOlivera Injac
FoundersMilojko Spajić
Jakov Milatović
Founded26 June 2022 (2022-06-26)
HeadquartersPodgorica
Youth wingThe Youth of Europe[1]
IdeologyPopulism[2]
Economic liberalism
Pro-Europeanism
Political positionCentre[3][4]
Colors  Gold
  Blue
  White
Parliament
20 / 81
Local Parliaments
41 / 847
Mayors
1 / 25
Website
evropasad.com

History

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The movement was founded on 26 June 2022 by Milojko Spajić and Jakov Milatović, the former independent Finance and Economy Ministers respectively, within the short-lived technocratic cabinet formed after the 2020 parliamentary election regime change.[6][7][8] Previously, announcing joint political engagement and the formation of a new political movement back in February 2022, shortly after the technocratic cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić lost the confidence by the new parliamentary majority.[9] In addition to Spajic and Milatovic, prominent founding members of the movement include former Defense Minister, Olivera Injac and university professor Filip Ivanović.[10] The name of the movement is identical with the economic reforms program that included popular set of measures, which increased minimal wage from €222 to €450 by cutting healthcare contributions, launched in January 2022 by the ministers during their tenure.[11][12] The newly-founded party also announced future cooperation with other centrist and civic-oriented political subjects, such as the Democrats-led and the URA-led coalitions, as well with the minority interests parties, opposing the activity and positions of the DPS, DF and SNP, accusing them of corruption and fueling ethnic divisions, calling them "parties and policies of the past".[13][14][15] Lawyers Andrej Milović and Vasilije Čarapić joined the movement in September 2022 and became presidency members.[16]

The movement debuted at the October 2022 local elections, seeing good results, especially in the elections in the capital city of Podgorica, which resulted in the fall from power of the populist DPS of President Milo Đukanović, which had ruled the city since the 1990s, with Europe Now! list ballot carrier Jakov Milatović, leading new coalition majority in the Capital City Assembly.[17][18][19] However, the formal announcement of the results is pending since the October 2022 election, until March 2023, caused by the vacancy within the Constitutional Court of Montenegro (due to the parliamentary crisis in the country), after the minor, both Montenegrin and Serbian nationalist organizations, such as "21st of May Initiative" and the Serb List, which many accuse of acting as a spoiler party of the DPS, submitted complaints to inactive court about "irregularities during local election campaign", leaving the outgoing convocation as well DPS-led administration elected in May 2018 staying in power in acting term during 2023.[20][21] The ES also obtain the mayoral post in Danilovgrad and Žabljak, becoming part of the new ruling coalitions in seven out of 11 municipalities in which they participated in the elections. All opinion polls published in the aftermath of the local elections, as of March 2023 showed an increase in the popular support of the movement.[22][23]

In January 2023, movement co-founder Milojko Spajić announced his candidacy for the March 2023 presidential elections,[24] Eventually, he was disqualified due to suspicions he has Serbian citizenship, since Montenegrin law does not allow people with dual citizenship to run for the presidency. Spajić’s disqualification by the central election body, composed mostly by the DPS and DF delegates, was quick and did not wait for the completion of a probe launched by the Ministry of Interior. This gave food to speculation that decision was influenced by the DPS as Spajić was seen as a serious threat to incumbent president Milo Đukanović. Commission members representing the DF also voted to disqualify Spajić.[25][26] Shortly after that, movement decided to nominate its other co-founder Jakov Milatović.[27] In the first round, Milatović outperformed the polls, gaining 29% of the votes[28][29] and eventually defeating long-ruling incumbent Milo Đukanović in the second round runoff on 2 April, winning roughly 60% of the votes.[30]

Spajić led the movement going into the 2023 parliamentary elections, at which it became the largest party, winning 24 seats in the Parliament.[31][32]

In February 2024 Jakov Milatović left the party.[33]

Electoral performance

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Presidential elections

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Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round Result
Votes % Votes %
2023 Jakov Milatović 97,858 28.92% 221,592 58.88% Won

Parliamentary elections

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Election Party leader Performance Alliance Rank Government
Votes % Seats +/–
2023 Milojko Spajić 77,203 25.53%
22 / 81
 New PES–UCG–Civis 1st Government

Positions held

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President of Montenegro Years
Jakov Milatović 2023–present
Prime Minister of Montenegro Years
Milojko Spajić 2023–present
Mayor of Podgorica Years
Olivera Injac 2023–present

References

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  1. ^ "Jelena Šukić predsjednica mladih Pokreta Evropa sad". Vijesti. Retrieved 31 May 2023.
  2. ^ Heil, Andy (2023-04-02). "On Europe And The West, Montenegro's Presidential Challenger Talks A Good Game. But Is He The Real Deal?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved 2023-04-24.
  3. ^ a b Montenegro: The identity question as a sticking point, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, 17 March 2023
  4. ^ a b A fresh face and dirty games in Montenegro's presidential election, IntelliNews, 16 March 2023
  5. ^ esadmin. "EVROPA SAD - Načela i vrijednosti". Pokret Evropa sad!. Retrieved 2022-10-23.
  6. ^ "Spajić i Milatović u ponedjeljak predstavljaju Pokret "Evropa sad!"" [On Monday, Spajić and Milatović will present the Movement "Europe now!"]. 25 June 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2022.
  7. ^ "Bivši ministri osnovali novu političku stranku u Crnoj Gori". Radio Slobodna Evropa (in Serbian). 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-08-05.
  8. ^ "Želja pokreta "Evropa sad" je da nastupi na izborima u svim opštinama". RTCG - Radio Televizija Crne Gore - Nacionalni javni servis (in Bosnian). Retrieved 2022-08-05.
  9. ^ Spajić i Milatović najavili osnivanje pokreta, Vijesti, 5 February 2022
  10. ^ "Olivera Injac i Filip Ivanović u pokretu Evropa sad". vijesti.me (in Serbo-Croatian). Retrieved 2022-08-31.
  11. ^ "EVROPA SAD!". Government of Montenegro. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  12. ^ Tajna izbornog uspjeha Pokreta Evropa sad u Crnoj Gori, Radio Free Europe, 25 October 2023
  13. ^ Sa DPS i DF nećemo sarađivati, Demokrate i URA partneri nakon izbora, Dan, 2 February 2023
  14. ^ Drago nam je što je strah od Evrope Sad ponovo ujedinio DPS, DF i SNP, Dan, 15 October 2022
  15. ^ Spajić: Čini mi se da DF odrađuje posao za DPS, Dan, 6 February 2023
  16. ^ Lacman, Nemanja (2022-09-09). "Andrej Milović i Vasilije Čarapić pristupili Pokretu Evropa sad". Adria TV (in Serbian). Retrieved 2023-04-25.
  17. ^ Pokret ‘Evropa sad’: DPS izgubio izbore, imat ćemo vlast u Podgorici, Al Jazeera, 23 October 2023
  18. ^ Evropa sad slavi: "Milatović je novi gradonačelnik, Dan, 23 October 2022
  19. ^ DPS izgubio Podgoricu, „Evropa sad“ najveći dobitnik, RTV Cetinje, 24 October 2022
  20. ^ Desničarski pokreti i pojedinci, povezani sa DPS-om, blokiraju tranziciju vlasti u Podgorici, press.co.me, 24 November 2022
  21. ^ Nakon deblokade Ustavnog suda, konačni rezultati u Podgorici mogući do kraja nedjelje, Dan, 28 February 2023
  22. ^ CEDEM: Evropa sad za petama DPS-u, Vijesti, 22 December 2023
  23. ^ Montenegro: the centrist pro-European "Evropa Sad!" reaches a record high of 17.4% in the latest CeDem poll, Europe Elects, March 2023
  24. ^ Spajić predsjednički kandidat Pokreta Evropa sad, Vijesti, 29 January 2023
  25. ^ Spajić: Ozvaničena saradnja lidera jedinstvenog DPS-a, MINA, 18 February 2023
  26. ^ Politička odluka DIK-a, proceduru osporio i predsjednik institucije, 18 February 2023
  27. ^ Jakov Milatović predao predsjedničku kandidaturu Archived 2023-02-26 at the Wayback Machine, RTCG, 26 February 2023
  28. ^ Po preliminarnim rezultatima Đukanović i Milatović u drugom krugu, RTCG, 19 March 2023
  29. ^ Đukanović i Milatović idu u drugi krug, Vijesti, 19 March 2023
  30. ^ Jakov Milatović ubjedljivo pobijedio: Dobio 60,1 odsto glasova, Đukanović 39,9 %, RTCG, 2 April 2023
  31. ^ Vasovic, Aleksandar; Filipovic, Branko; Vasovic, Aleksandar (2023-06-11). "Montenegro's pro-EU Europe Now Movement claims victory in snap vote". Reuters. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  32. ^ "Pokret 'Evropa sad' osvojio 24 - najviše mandata na izborima u Crnoj Gori". Radio Slobodna Evropa (in Serbo-Croatian). 2023-06-12. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
  33. ^ "Montenegrin president Milatovic leaves ruling party Europe Now". SeeNews. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
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