Milojko Spajić

Milojko "Mickey" Spajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Милојко Спајић; born 24 September 1987) is a Montenegrin politician and financial engineer who served as the minister of finance and social welfare in the Government of Montenegro and the cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić from 4 December 2020 to 28 April 2022. He is the president of the Centrism, centrist Europe Now!, Europe Now party.

Early life and education

Spajić was born on 24 September 1987 in Pljevlja, SR Montenegro, SFR Yugoslavia. Spajić is related to Bishop Metodije Ostojić. He graduated from Pljevlja Gymnasium as one of the best students and continued his education at the Osaka University in Japan, where he studied ecometrics in Japanese language, Japanese as a scholarship holder of the Government of Japan. As part of a student exchange program, he also studied at the Tsinghua University. He obtained his master's degree, also as a scholarship holder, in France at the HEC Paris business school.

In addition to his native Serbian language, Serbian, he also speaks English, Japanese, Chinese, Russian and French.

Financial career

Following graduation he worked in the United States on Wall Street, in Paris and Tokyo. Prior to joining politics Spajić also worked for Goldman Sachs, a global banking group dealing with investment banking, securities trading and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. He has also been a partner of a venture capital, venture capital fund in Singapore, Das Capital SG.

Political career

2020 parliamentary election

Spajić started his political career as a non-partisan politician and during the 2020 Montenegrin parliamentary election, parliamentary elections in 2020 was a member of Zdravko Krivokapić, Zdravko Krivokapić's expert team. Spajic stated that there were several reasons for his return to Montenegro, but that the main one was the adoption of the disputed Law on Freedom of Religion and that the law shows how many problems have accumulated in the Montenegrin system. He added that until the situation improves, he will not "move" from Montenegro and that no investor will believe in a state where an institution such as the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), which has existed for eight centuries and is trusted by most Montenegrin citizens is getting its property seized by the government. During the religious crisis, he participated in lobbying in the United States for interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbs of Montenegro.

Minister of Finance and Social Welfare

Spajic was sworn in as the minister of finance and social welfare on 4 December 2020 and served under Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić. During his term, Spajić and economy minister Jakov Milatović presented and implemented the controversial "Europe now" economic reform program. Following a parliamentary crisis, Prime Minister Krivokapić announced that he had submitted an initiative to the Parliament of Montenegro to remove Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and proposed that Spajić replaces him as the deputy prime minister. Spajić claimed that he donated his whole ministerial salary.

Europe Now

In 2022, Spajić and Milatović founded the Europe Now (PES) political party, with Spajić as president and Milatović as deputy president. PES participated in the 2022 Montenegrin municipal elections, 2022 local elections.

Spajić tried to run for President of Montenegro in the 2023 Montenegrin presidential election, 2023 presidential election but his candidacy was rejected by the State Electoral Commission (DIK) as it was discovered that he is a dual citizen of Serbia and Montenegro. Following this discovery he stated he became a citizen of Serbia in 2009 and that the process of renouncing his Serbian citizenship is still ongoing. He later stated that he accepted Serbian citizenship so that he could travel to Japan without a visa. Instead of him, Milatović ran as PES candidate and ended up defeating incumbent president Milo Đukanović in the run-off with 58.88% of the popular vote.

Following the presidential election, Spajić said that he is ready to take responsibility and be PES's ballot carrier for the 2023 Montenegrin parliamentary election, 2023 parliamentary election. On 26 April, it was confirmed that Spajić will head PES's electoral list. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and interior minister Filip Adžić accused Spajić of having connections to South Korean cryptocurrency developer Do Kwon who was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023. According to Abazović, Do Kwon sent a letter from prison which was addressed to Abazović, Adžić, justice minister Marko Kovač and main prosecutor Vladimir Novović, informing them of his connections to Spajić. PES denied the accusations against Spajić and stated that Do Kwon signed the letter under Abazović's orders. PES won around 25% of the popular vote in the parliamentary election, gaining the most seats in the Parliament of Montenegro. Following the election, Do Kwon denied that he ever financially backed Spajić. Spajić is expected to become the next Prime Minister of Montenegro, prime minister of Montenegro.

Political positions

Foreign policy

Spajić supports the accession of Montenegro to the European Union but also thinks that Western politicians are "not interested in Montenegro". He claimed that joining NATO was a "good move for Montenegro", but that he would be opposed to deploying Montenegrin soldiers to the Baltic states, Baltic countries. Spajić condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which he considers an aggression, and voiced his support for sanctioning Russia, even though he thinks that sanctions will only "strengthen Moscow on its way". Spajić is against the proposals of Montenegro revoking the recognition of Kosovo's independence, stating that he thinks that that is "one of the topics behind us". He advocates closer relations between Montenegro and Serbia.

Personal life

Spajić has a daughter with his former partner. He is a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

References

External links

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1987 births
Living people
People from Pljevlja
Serbs of Montenegro
Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Osaka University alumni
HEC Paris alumni
Finance ministers of Montenegro
Montenegrin businesspeople
Europe Now politicians
Naturalized citizens of Serbia
Serbian people of Montenegrin descent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spajic, Milojko