Montenegrin government

MANS on Monday handed documents to Montenegro's chief prosecutor, alleging that the wife of the former president of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, stashed away millions of US dollars in a secret bank account held by the Swiss arm of HSBC bank.

Environmental organisations in Montenegro have announced a protest rally on Tuesday in the coastal town of Budva against the government's decision to allow the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas in the Adriatic Sea.

They say the Montenegrin government has not produced a convincing argument that drilling is either necessary or desirable. 

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, on Tuesday warned Montenegro that it risks bankruptcy if it loses an arbitration case with the Central European Aluminium Company, CEAC, which is seeking almost a billion euro in compensation for its alleged losses in the country.

PODGORICA/BELGRADE Feb 18 (Tanjug) - Chairperson-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Serbia's Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, has said in Podgorica that as holder of the OSCE chairmanship, Serbia would like to see Montenegro become a member of the European Union as soon as possible.

Serbia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ivica Dacic, on Tuesday said Serbia wanted only the best for Montenegro - and hoped it would join the European Union as soon as possible.  

The US Ambassador in Podgorica, Sue Brown, on Tuesday repeated a call for the Montenegrin government to examine evidence that the US authorities have concerning alleged bribery in the privatization of the state-owned Montenegro Telekom firm in 2005.

The air traffic control agency, SMATSA, expects to earn more than 68 million eurofrom route charges in 2015, after some major European airlines relocated flight paths over Serbia and Montenegro due to the armed conflicts in Ukraine.

The Montenegrin Army's air force does not have adequate equipment or enough capacity to control the country's skies, even though airspace protection is one of the priorities Podgorica's NATO integration process, the Centre for Democratic Transition watchdog claimed.

PODGORICA - Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic and Prime Minister of the People's Republic of China Li Keqiang said Tuesday that the two countries have excellent bilateral relations based on friendship and strengthened through economic cooperation that shows great potential.

The Basic Court in Podgorica on Wednesday began hearing the case against Calovic, the director of prominent Montenegrin watchdog group MANS, who is accused of defamation. 

Calovic is being sued by former Serbian official Popovic after a series of articles in the Montenegrin edition of Belgrade-based tabloid Informer in which she was accused of bestiality.