While the Serbian government announced yesterday that the country will not close its borders to Montenegrin citizens, almost at the same time the Directorate for Civil Aviation of Serbia banned the landing of Montenegro Airlines planes at Belgrade Airport.
This happened as a sign of reciprocity after the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković, announced on Monday that in the first days of June, Montenegro will open its borders to countries that meet the epidemiological criteria, i.e. in which the number of infected people is 25 or less per 100.000 inhabitants. First of all, these are Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania, Greece.
Such a decision by the authorities in Podgorica met with strong reactions from the authorities in Serbia, so Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said that they would not introduce "reciprocal measures", but pointed out that Serbian citizens should not go where, as she claims, they are unwelcome.
MA confirmed last night that they are aware of the decision of the Serbian authorities not to allow their planes to land. Special MA flights for Montenegrin university students studying in Serbia were organized from the Podgorica airport two days ago. According to unofficial information from "Vijesti", new ones are also planned for more than 100 Montenegrin students who should finish their student obligations in Serbia from June 1.
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Serbian portals announced that the Directorate for Civil Aviation assessed that "the principle of reciprocity in the movement of passengers between the two countries has been seriously violated, which directly affects the reciprocity in the performance of regular air transportation... to the detriment of air carriers registered in the Republic of Serbia ".
The Ambassador of Montenegro to Serbia, Tarzan Milošević, said yesterday that the Government of Montenegro has not yet made any final decision regarding the opening of borders. "I firmly believe that quality communication will be established very quickly between Montenegro and Serbia in terms of the free movement of people, respecting everything that both countries have undertaken and done in a high-quality way to protect the health of their citizens," the ambassador concluded. reports the Mondo portal.
The Government told "Vijesti" that there is no basis for Serbia's reciprocity, because Montenegro has not introduced a landing ban for Air Serbia planes.
The assistant director of the Institute for Public Health, Senad Begić, explained in the TV Vijesti morning program that the decision did not refer to any individual country, but to those countries where the number of infected people is 25 or less per 100.000 inhabitants.
"Registered cases are not our focus. We focused on active participants, who at this point can spread the infection further. We are looking at the number of active participants in relation to the number of inhabitants", said Begić.
The DPS said that the decision was not political but purely health-related.
DPS MP Nikola Rakočević told TV Vijesti that he is sure that the borders with Serbia will be open, as well as with other countries that had no objections to Montenegro's decision. He assessed that "it is also a political decision of the State of Serbia to inappropriately criticize the decision of Montenegro".
From Democratic Montenegro, they assessed that the decision to further close borders for citizens of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia is part of the same agenda that includes the plan to desecrate symbols and destroy cultural monuments.
"Raising tensions and inciting inter-ethnic quarrels is the mission of the DPS, in accordance with which various techniques are tailored and various decisions are made, such as, among others, and the last one, on not opening the borders with the nearest neighboring states: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia" , the Democrats believe.
Milivojević: A paradox in which the presidents of Serbia and Montenegro conduct politics against each other
Political analyst from Belgrade Cvijetin Milivojević told Glas Amerika that there is a paradox in which the presidents of Serbia and Montenegro conduct politics against each other, while their campaigns are managed by almost the same people.
"Don't forget that the key contribution to the victory of (Milo) Đukanović in the previous parliamentary elections in the fall of 2016 was made by (Aleksandar) Vučić. Don't forget that Vučić went live during the election day, that somewhere around three o'clock in the afternoon, five hours before the polling stations closed, with his statement that 'there is an attempted coup d'état against Đukanović organized by some citizens of Serbia and some citizens of Russia', he actually united the voters of DPS, drove away a good part of the voters of the opposition at that time, actually scared them and they did not go to the elections", stated Milivojević.
He added that Đukanović should also thank Vučić for that victory.
"There is a kind of relationship that lasts from the moment when the Serbian Progressive Party was formed, don't forget that the patrons of the SNS, and the commanders of the propaganda headquarters of Mr. Đukanović and Mr. Vučić, are almost one and the same people," said Milivojević.
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