Milojko Spajić

Milojko "Mickey" Spajić (Serbian and Montenegrin Cyrillic: Милојко Спајић; born 24 September 1987) is a Montenegrin politician and financial engineer serving as Prime Minister of Montenegro since October 2023. He also served as the Minister of Finance and Social Welfare in the Government of Montenegro and the cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić from 2020 to 2022.

Spajić is the president of the centrist Europe Now party. As of 2024, he is the fourth youngest serving state leader in the world, after Gabriel Attal of France, Ibrahim Traoré of Burkina Faso and Daniel Noboa of Ecuador.

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 Saitama University and Osaka University in Japan, where he studied ecometrics in 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 Serbo-Croatian, 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 as a credit analyst for Goldman Sachs, He has also been a partner of a 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 parliamentary elections in 2020 was a member of Zdravko Krivokapić's expert team. Spajić 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 would not "move" from Montenegro and that no investor would "trust in a state where an institution such as the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), which had 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 local elections.

2023 elections

Spajić tried to run for President of Montenegro in the 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 parliamentary election. On 26 April, it was confirmed that Spajić would 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.

On 10 August 2023, President Jakov Milatović gave Spajić a mandate to form the new government. On 30 August 2023, protests were held throughout Montenegro against Spajić and his plans to include the ethnic minority parties in the new government due to them being former coalition partners of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and for excluding the pro-Serbian coalition For the Future of Montenegro from the new government formation.

Prime Minister of Montenegro

On 31 October, Montenegro's parliament approved a new government, with Spajić as Prime Minister.

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 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 would 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.

See also

• List of state leaders by age#Youngest serving state leaders

References

External links

• Media related to Milojko Spajić at Wikimedia Commons