Movement for Changes

Movement for Changes is a right-wing populist and far-right political party in Montenegro. Its current leader is Nebojša Medojević, the party's founder.

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History

The party was founded by a group of economists and academics in September 2002 and was modeled after the Group 17 Plus in Serbia. It is led by Nebojša Medojević It operated as a non-governmental organization under the name Group for Changes until July 17, 2006, when it reconstituted itself as a political party.
In the Montenegrin independence referendum">Montenegrin language">Montenegrin independence referendum, PzP remained neutral and did not campaign for either option, their choice being an outcome without the Movement's involvement. Although prominent members of the party supported an independent Montenegrin state, they refused to join the Bloc for an Independent Montenegro, led by the DPS. After the referendum, they stated that they did so out of opposition to Đukanović's rule, which they see as corrupt and undemocratic. In the 2006 parliamentary election, the party ran for the first time, winning 11 of 81 seats. It became a vocal opposition party and forged links with the Serb People's Party and the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro in an attempt to unify the country's political opposition.
The party put forward amendments as part of the drafting process for the new Constitution of Montenegro, including the suggestion of official language status for the Serbian language alongside the existing proposal to declare Montenegrin the state language. The proposal was adopted by the ruling coalition, and PzP gave its support for the required two-thirds super-majority to adopt the Constitution. This support damaged its ties with other opposition parties to some extent. The presence of senior officials of the PzP at protests against Montenegrin recognition of Kosovo, in turn, alienated some Albanian supporters of the Movement. The party saw a fall in support at the 2009 parliamentary election, falling from 11 seats to 5. The Movement for Changes leader, Nebojša Medojević, was a candidate in the 2008 presidential election. He came in third, gathering nearly 17% of the vote. Since the 2012 parliamentary election, the party operates within the populist Democratic Front alliance.
PzP joined the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists in May 2015. In 2019, following Nebojsa Medojevic's meeting with Mischaël Modrikamen PzP announced its membership in The Movement, a coalition of populist parties chaired by former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. In September 2020, the PzP left the DF parliamentary group.

Ideology

Initially, the ideological profile of the Movement for Changes was a mix of fiscal conservatism, economic liberalism and anti-corruption in economic policy, atlanticism and pro-Europeanism in foreign policy, and moderate conservatism on social issues. Since founding, party has as a proclaimed goal the integration of their country into the European Union and political and economic reforms to bring it into line with European norms, PzP has also been a vocal advocate for Montenegro's NATO membership. Recently it takes a cautiously supportive attitude towards the country's EU integrations, opposing the European Union's further federalisation and frequently criticising the Brussels bureaucracy. The party, like its NGO predecessor, advocates as part a reform agenda change in the "undemocratic regime of the Democratic Party of Socialists" the party that has ruled Montenegro as the dominant partner in every coalition government since the end of communism, and the "dethroning" of multiple-term Prime-Minister and President Milo Đukanović. PzP also often referred to the Đukanovic regime as example of the Mafia state. In recent years, the Movement for Changes has increasingly employed a more antiglobalist, right-wing populist and anti-immigrant discourse, frequently depicting the Montenegrin society as fundamentally divided between ordinary citizens and a corrupt partocracy.