Almost five years have passed since the formal entry of Montenegro into NATO, and the North Atlantic Treaty, the founding act of the most powerful military alliance in the world, is still not available in the Montenegrin language on the official website of the North Atlantic Alliance, which is easy to check (https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/official_texts_17120.htm).
The agreement can be read in the languages of NATO members, plus Armenian, Hebrew, Georgian, Russian and Ukrainian. Of course, the issue of placing the "Montenegro language label" above the North Atlantic Treaty does not fundamentally change anything, but it very well depicts the true face of the thirty-year DPS regime, i.e. its superficiality, even on issues they care about, such as language.
Was the former Minister of Defense Predrag Bošković in his mandate from 2016 to 2020 - otherwise very sensitive to all issues concerning Montenegrin identity, from symbols to language - forgetful or perhaps he considered that the translation of the North Atlantic Treaty into Croatian was sufficient and that it is not necessary to add Montenegrin, and even less Serbian, despite the fact that, according to the last population census, it is used by the largest number of Montenegrin citizens?
The way in which Bošković devotedly and meticulously performed his ministerial and sports functions contradicts the possibility of being forgotten or overlooked. On the other hand, since he distinguished himself as the Minister of Education by printing "Luča" diplomas in Latin, which is roughly the same as if we were to write the names of Roman popes in Arabic rather than Roman numerals, and by statements from which it was concluded that two languages are spoken in Montenegro ( Montenegrin and Albanian), it is hard to believe that Bošković neglected the importance of the idiom with the change of the ministerial chair, education for the one in defense.
I don't know how many followers of the DPS regime know who Wilhelm von Humboldt was, but it is evident, from their public appearances, that all of them are "neo-Homboldtians" even in their ignorance. The Prussian statesman and linguist believed that language is the foundation of every nation and that every nation projects its view of the world through the language it uses. In other words, nothing is as fundamentally patriotic or nationalistic, depending on one's point of view, as insisting on the "purity" and name of the language.
The secret of German unification, despite the fact that for centuries the Germans were religiously divided into Protestants and Catholics and into quite different ethnic groups - the difference between the Prussians from Kant's Königsberg and the Bavarians from Strauss's Munich was far greater than those between the South Slavic peoples - is hidden in the language .
So, how is it possible that the DPS regime made an oversight and that other parties in Montenegro, such as SDP and SD, as well as numerous non-governmental organizations came out from under the DPS coat, very sensitive to identity issues, are nothing noticed? So much effort regarding the introduction and promotion of the Montenegrin language, from the constitutional category to the faculty, and then when it was necessary to give the stage to the Montenegrin language in the strongest military organization, in the company of the most important planetary idioms - nothing.
The question could also be raised as to whether someone at the NATO headquarters, in Zaventem, is undermining Montenegro on purpose or out of negligence? It is against all the principles of the Alliance that members are not treated with due respect, so it is probably an oversight on the part of NATO and negligence on the part of Montenegro.
If we wanted to make a joke, we could say that Milo Đukanović's regime would have met all the conditions for EU membership if, by any chance, official Belgrade was against membership in the Union, as it is against joining NATO.
The new government of Dritan Abazović would have to change the narrative at the start because it is not something to be praised for being the first among the last. In other words, Montenegro is not a leader in the process of European integration in the region, but a country that, thanks to the governments of DPS+SDP+SD+BS, has broken all records, excluding Turkey, for the length of negotiations on EU membership. That those who come behind will negotiate even longer is a small consolation.
Croatia closed the negotiations in six years, and Montenegro, under the leadership of Milo Đukanović, needed eight to open all chapters, which was relativized with the change in the negotiation methodology that introduced a new rule of reversibility.
There is nothing behind the declarative advocacy of DPS and its natural allies, as defined by President Đukanović, for European values. Unlike Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, Montenegro did not have any external obstacles or ballast that would hinder it on the way to European integration.
Podgorica is the only one in the region to have mortified itself in the process of European integration by collapsing the judicial system and allowing the coupling of organized crime with state bodies, including the police, prosecutor's office, courts and media.
Montenegro's European path was already stopped when Zdravko Krivokapić's government entered the cabinet. The so-called the expert government cannot be accused of blocking the process of European integration, but only of failing to unblock it.
The arrest of Vesna Medenica and the fact that it was necessary for the evidence to arrive directly from Europol in order for procedural actions to be initiated and for her to be deprived of her liberty, shows in an explicit way who is responsible for the blockade of Montenegro's European route.
It seems to me, from a distance, that a good part of the public in Podgorica does not understand the extent of the scandal due to the arrest of a person who was at the head of the most important judicial institutions for decades. In the EU member states and in the free world, we have had presidents, prime ministers, and ministers convicted by the force of law, but not the presidents of the Supreme Courts.
The problem is that the incumbent Dritan Abazović stubbornly believes, even after the scandal with Medenica, that he can engage in the fight against corruption and organized crime with the support of the same people and political family that led the country into a labyrinth of corruption, abuse of power, trading in influence, close connection with organized crime and of which, after all, Vesna Medenica was the product par excellence.
And finally, the involvement of American diplomats and officials in the Western Balkans in the last few months has dusted off the theory that the fastest way to Brussels is through Washington. This is correct only as long as Brussels means Zaventem (headquarters of NATO) and it is totally wrong for Schuman Square (headquarters of the EU). One can only go to the EU through Paris and Berlin, there is no other way, whoever does not understand this, trusting in the Americans, awaits the fate of Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. No one is as loyal to Washington in the region as Tirana, Pristina and Skopje, and again, Albania and North Macedonia have not yet started negotiations with the EU, and Kosovo still does not have visa liberalization. Think about it.
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