Podgorica, (MINA) – The gap between the formal progress in the European integration process and the actual development and application of democratic standards is growing, the Center for Civic Education (CGO) assessed.

Nikola Mirkovic, CGO program associate, said ahead of the International Day of Democracy, that Montenegro faces daily evidence of poor indicators in the area of ​​basic human rights, freedoms and democratic practices.

According to him, one of the latest examples is the interruption of the Dzada Film Fest, which, as he stated, exposed a climate in which nationalist and chauvinistic incidents are happening more and more often.

“It is particularly concerning that this is also reflected among younger generations, although in a multi-ethnic society tolerance should be a pillar of coexistence”, Mirkovic assessed.

As he added, the space for critically oriented individuals and civil society organizations is shrinking at the same time.

“Political attacks, targeting and threats, as well as all advocacy for the adoption of the Law on Foreign Agents, borrowed from authoritarian regimes, seriously threaten freedom of expression and critical thought”, emphasized Mirkovic.

He said that many were shocked by the recent wave of insults and threats that the leader of the Democratic People’s Party, Milan Knezevic, addressed at environmental activist Aleksandar Dragicevic, simply because he publicly expressed his position on an environmental issue.