Vetting or a political threat: From what position is former minister-designate Boris Bogdanović speaking?

The head of the Democrats’ parliamentary group Boris Bogdanović sent a message that sounded more like a threat than a political position, during the debate in the Parliament of Montenegro on laws concerning the Ministry of Interior and the National Security Agency:

„Prepare yourselves for what you dislike the most, for what you cannot stand - for checks, for vetting, all in accordance with European standards. Not halfway, but this time all the way“.

However, the statement takes on a completely different context when the political position from which it comes is taken into account. Bogdanović is not part of the executive branch, yet for some time there has been speculation in political circles that he behaves as if he has access to information from the police and the prosecution before it becomes official. The public gets the impression that he knows when someone will be placed in detention even before a judge signs the decision.

This raises a logical question: to whom was this message actually directed, and from what position?

Especially when we recall that Bogdanović himself was once projected to become Minister of the Interior, but withdrew from the position at the last moment due to what he then described as the health situation of family members, after which the post went to Danilo Šaranović.

Of course, anyone should be held accountable for possible illegal actions in accordance with the laws of this state. That is not in dispute at all. What is disputed is something else: on what basis, according to which criteria, and thanks to which position or privilege does a member of parliament issue such threats? And does this mean that he potentially has access to police, prosecutorial, or judicial information?

If he truly possesses such data, who is providing it to him and why?

And even more importantly - from what position is he sending messages to political opponents or critics that sound like announcements of institutional crackdowns?

Such behavior has nothing to do with the European standards that Bogdanović invokes. On the contrary, in well-functioning democratic systems, access to operational data from the police and the prosecution is strictly controlled, and its political misuse would represent a serious scandal.

Therefore, this statement does not raise the issue of „vetting“, but rather the issue of political influence over the security sector.