Duško Marković

Duško Marković (; born 6 July 1959) is a Montenegrin politician who served as the prime minister from 2016 to 2020. Formerly a high-ranking member of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), he is now the president of the Party of European Progress (SEP).

Early and personal life Marković was born on 6 July 1959 in Mojkovac, Yugoslavia. He finished elementary and middle school in Mojkovac, and graduated in law at the University of Kragujevac. After he graduated from Kragujevac, he began working in legal consulting for the Brskovo mine in Mojkovac. He is married and has three children. Jovanović's wife testified in court that Marković threatened to kill Jovanović during a phone call in April 2003, the same month the Dan office was set on fire.

In 2005, following the establishment of the new National Security Agency (ANB) in May that year, Marković was appointed by Parliament to head the agency, a position he held until 2010. His nomination was condemned by the opposition, who accused Marković of involvement in corruption scandals and of omission of information in the inquiry about the murder of Duško Jovanović in 2004.

Prime minister

On 9 November 2016, Marković was nominated as prime minister by the president of Montenegro Filip Vujanović, and on 28 November he was confirmed by 41 out of 81 members of the parliament (with the opposition boycotting the assembly), with the support of the Albanian, Croat and Bosniak minority parties.

On 25 May 2017, Marković made headlines around the world when the United States president Donald Trump appeared to brusquely shove him aside to get in front of him at a photo op during a NATO summit meeting, which was attended by Montenegro for the first time, days prior to its formal accession to the alliance. Later, Marković responded to questions about the incident by shrugging it off.

On 10 October 2018, Marković expressed his support for amendments on the Law on State Symbols and Day of Statehood, which would penalize those who don't stand up for the Montenegrin national anthem by up to €2,000. The amendment included tiers depending on the subject's occupation, with penalties for businessmen up to €6,000, and up to €20,000 for those working in the legal system.

As of late December 2019, the newly proclaimed religion law which de jure transfers the ownership of church buildings and estates from the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro to the Montenegrin state, sparked a series of massive protests followed with road blockages, which continued to 2020.

In June 2024, Marković left DPS and founded the Party of European Progress (SEP).