Old Doubts Cling to Montenegro's New Cabinet

Montenegro's new Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic, has got off to a radical start - demanding spending cuts and telling sleepy public servants they might as well go home.

Few critics believe his government will deliver anything very new, however.

With only four names retained from the previous cabinet led by veteran former Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, Markovic has introduced a completely new government, mostly comprising people who are little known to the public in tiny Montenegro.

Reportedly, Markovic wanted to refresh the cabinet and appoint ministers untainted by suspicions of abuse of office and corruption.

The new Ministry of Sports will be run by the award-winning athlete Nikola Janovic. A little known energy expert, Dragica Sekulic, will lead the Economy Ministry and the new Foreign Minister is Srdjan Darmanovic, a former civil rights activist.

A scientist with an international profile, Sanja Damjanovic, who was engaged in projects at the European Institute of Physics in Switzerland, CERN, will lead the Ministry of Science.

But the appointment of Darko Radunovic as Finance Minster has sparked more controversy. Radunovic is a former CEO of Prva Bank, the bank owned by Djukanovic's brother, who was at the centre of many financial scandals over the years.

The director of the watchdog Civic Alliance, Boris Raonic, said Markovic had made some bold choices and had freed the cabinet from "the most corrupted ministers" and appointed several associates of undoubted professional authority.

"But the new government will be a government of continuity when it comes to policy guidelines," he said.

The government was approved on Monday, a month after the general election. The parliamentary majority...