Prime Ministers of Montenegro

The Serbian and Montenegrin Prime Ministers, Ana Brnabic and Zdravko Krivokapic, at Podgorica airport, Montenegro. Photo: Government of Montenegro

The minister will be visiting Serbia almost a month after Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic donated a consignment of Russian Sputnik V COVID vaccines to Podgorica on February 17.

Protests in front of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sport in the town of Cetinje. Photo: Ljubo Filipovic

Ruling majority MPs and government members in the Montenegrin parliament. Photo: Parliament of Montenegro

Katnic was deeply unpopular with the former opposition for his role in securing guilty verdicts for 13 people - including two opposition leaders - accused of plotting to overthrow the previous government in 2016.

And that's not all.

The sum of evidence collected by two independent experts, sources involved in the project and via documents reviewed by the Centre for Investigative Journalism in Montenegro, CIN-CG, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, BIRN, and the weekly Monitor, indicate that WTE overcharged by millions of euros for the construction of the one completed treatment plant.

Montenegrin PM Zdravko Krivokapic on the press conference in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

Krivokapic also called again on Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic to visit Montenegro and show good will for cooperation.

But analysts see a bid by Djukanovic to consolidate his party ranks before a crucial congress on January 23 and rally his base before a first electoral test in Montenegro's second city, Niksic, in March.

Serbia's Justice and Internal Affairs ministries have not publicly responded to fresh requests from Montenegro to extradite the former president of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic.

The Montenegrin ruling coalition MPs adopted the changes to the Law on Religious freedom, while the opposition boycotted the session.

Speaking from Belgrade, where he found safe haven despite repeated demands from Montenegro for his extradition, 65-year-old Marovic, once a key ally of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, said that his family had been "brought to the brink" of financial collapse by the scandal that enveloped him in 2015 when he was arrested on corruption charges.

New Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic (L) and former PM Dusko Markovic (D) at a meeting in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro