Montenegro president nominates pro-Western party leader as PM-designate

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Montenegro's President Jakov Milatovic on Thursday nominated Milojko Spajic, a leader of a pro-Western party that won a parliamentary vote in June, as prime minister-designate tasked to form a government.

Spajic and Milatovic lead the Europe Now Movement (PES) which won most votes in the June snap elections after Milo Djukanovic, the long-time ruler of Montenegro, lost the presidential election in April and stepped down after 30 years in power.

Milatovic said he would propose Spajic as the PM-designate after 44 lawmakers in the 81-seat parliament pledged to support him, most of them from PES coalition but also from parties representing ethnic minorities, such as Bosniaks, Croats and Albanians.

Several more parties said they would support Spajic if he reaches an agreement on the government which must be formed in the next 90 days, Milatovic said.

"We are at the crossroads which will eventually determine our future," Milatovic said at a news conference in Cetinje, the former royal capital of Montenegro. He added that the tiny Adriatic country of just over 620,000 people needs stability after the collapse of two governments since 2020.

Some analysts doubt that Spajic, a 36-year-old economist who served as finance minister in the 2020-2022 government of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic, will be able to form a stable government out of Montenegro's fragmented politics.

Montenegro started EU accession negotiations in 2012 and hopes to speed up its integration with the wealthy 27-member bloc after adopting a comprehensive set of legal frameworks aligned with the European Union.

Milatovic said that during consultations, all parties agreed that priorities were to speed up EU integration, improve the rule of law and the standard of living.

"Our ultimate goal must be a civic, democratic and economically developed Montenegro which will become a full member of the European Union as soon as possible, for which we need the full institutional consolidation," he said.

(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic and Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Nick Macfie)