The decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro to expel the ambassador of Serbia Vladimir Božović was made on the order of the Democratic Party of Socialists and it is a provincial blunder because it was made four days before the election of the new Montenegrin government, said MP and president of Demos Miodrag Lekić.
Yesterday, the MFA declared Božović persona non grata and asked him to leave the country, and Serbia responded in the same way and declared Montenegro's ambassador to Serbia, Tarzan Milošević, undesirable.
Lekić, who is a former minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to several countries, believes that the reciprocal measure of Serbia as an established practice in international relations is another unpleasant legacy left by the outgoing government led by the leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists and the country's president Milo Đukanović.
"As if the legacy of huge economic debts, many indicators of a corrupt and criminalized state and the difficult state of forced divisions in Montenegrin society were not enough," said Lekić for "Vijesti".
The MFA of Montenegro cited Božović's comments about the Podgorica Assembly in 1918 as the reason for the decision, which, they say, humiliated the highest legislative body of Montenegro - the Assembly, which on November 29, 2018 adopted the Resolution on annulling the decisions of the Podgorica Assembly.
"After a long and continuous interference in the internal affairs of Montenegro, behavior and statements incompatible with the usual and acceptable standards of performing diplomatic functions, after several oral and written warnings about the unacceptability of such behavior, yesterday Ambassador Božović called the illegal and illegitimate Podgorica Assembly in 1918 "liberation ” and the “free will” of the Montenegrin people, with which he once again, in the most direct way, belittled the country that gave him diplomatic hospitality", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced yesterday.
"The decision, formally of the MFA, to expel from our country the ambassador of Serbia, more elegantly called persona non grata, can be seen on several levels. Firstly, bearing in mind the lack of autonomy of the same ministry, which has been demonstrated so many times, there should be no doubt that the MFA only implemented the decision of someone on duty in the DPS, who had previously received the same instructions from Prime Minister (Duško) Marković, who was once again in charge of everything. announced President Đukanović. So, the same line that, in an arrangement with the Serbian authorities, not so long ago imported the unheard-of vulgar-propaganda tabloids "Informer" and "Pink" to Montenegro. The same team that defined the relations between Serbia and Montenegro for the best in the last 20 years. Then, as now, the MFA dutifully followed these turns of the ruling political team here," Lekić points out.
He adds that the timing of the decision, four days before the election of the new government, speaks of "an institutional, rather provincial, blunder on the domestic front that shows some other moments more."
"Namely, it shows the state of strong frustration of the outgoing government with the visible motive of some vengeful move." Essentially, towards the citizens who elected another government. If the conditions were ripe for the Montenegrin state institutions to act in a certain way towards the ambassador of Serbia, then it should have been left to the representatives of the new government," adds Lekić.
He states that the choice of the topic of the Podgorica Assembly in 1918 as a reason for diplomatic retaliation sounds like a grotesque continuation of the political exploitation of the same topic, which he believes should be discussed first in the circles of historiography and then without passion in the Montenegrin public.
"Fifth, such as the inadequate abuse of historical topics by the representatives of the former government, not infrequently by those who hide their personal inclinations and practices towards corrupt practices by loyalty to some historical dates - it is also unacceptable to inappropriately engage in the same topics by foreign diplomats . In the specific case, the ambassador of Serbia, who must be aware that he represents another country that is not expected to arbitrarily establish the truths about Montenegrin history. However, despite the inadequate reactions of the ambassador of Serbia, his expulsion at this moment by the outgoing government is extremely problematic, in any case an improvised decision with bad consequences", concludes Lekić.
Outgoing ambassadors Vladimir Božović and Tarzan Milošević did not respond to the calls and messages of "Vijesti". According to "Vijesti", Božović is in Belgrade.
DPS praiseworthy, the new majority expects the decision to be revoked
Miloš Nikolić, spokesman for the DPS and member of that party in the Parliament of Montenegro, said that the decision to declare Božović persona non grata was expected.
"The expected decision of the MFA after several warnings after which Božović continued to interfere in internal affairs and belittle the state of Montenegro," wrote Nikolić on his Twitter profile.
The move to declare the ambassador of Serbia an undesirable person in Montenegro only shows the level of desperation in which the outgoing regime is, said the leader of the New Serbian Democracy (Nova) and one of the leaders of the Democratic Front (DF) Andrija Mandić.
"Ambassador Božović said only the historical truth that the Serbian people in Montenegro are proud of. This should serve to his honor, because if he had said something else, and evaluated the time and events differently, his people would have resented him. This attitude of the outgoing regime is not only towards Serbia, but primarily towards the Serbian people in Montenegro. It was our ancestors who organized the Great Assembly of the Serbian People in 1918 and united Montenegro and Serbia. It serves their honor and our pride," the leader of Nova wrote on his Twitter profile.
The SNP said that the move towards Božović is the latest in a series of anti-Serb and anti-civilization attitudes of the outgoing regime and that it is an attempt to divide the people of Montenegro and Serbia.
The spokeswoman of the Democratic People's Party (DNP), Jelena Kljajević, said that the expulsion of Božović was a foolish and hasty act by the outgoing regime and that they repeat Božović's statement that the Podgorica Assembly in 1918 represents "an act of the freely expressed will of the citizens and an inseparable symbol of the spiritual, national and historical relationship between the two brotherly states." She said that the DNP certainly has no doubt that the new government, as well as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, will cancel that decision immediately after December 2.
The Workers' Party announced that declaring Božović persona non grata is a harmful and malicious move by the MFA.
Raonic: The culmination of bad relations, a new government to calm the situation
This is the culmination of the bad relations between Serbia and Montenegro, just three days before the formation of the new government, it is an interesting moment and for many unexpected, said the director of the Civic Alliance, Boris Raonic from the "Civil Alliance".
He said that it was not a diplomatic reaction.
"We have an ambassador of Serbia in Montenegro, but we don't have a diplomat, just like you in Serbia don't have a diplomat but a politician in the position of ambassador, we decided between Serbia and Montenegro to exchange ambassadorial positions with politicians, and the result of such ambassadorial positions are these relations between two countries. People like career diplomats have more tact and look more to the future than to the past," he told N1.
Raonic assessed that it is going a step further, so Serbia's reciprocal measure and the declaration of the Montenegrin ambassador in Belgrade as persona non grata leads to an "absurd situation".
"Since number two are prohibited from entering state institutions in both countries, we will end up in an absurd situation, unprecedented in diplomatic practice, that diplomatic affairs will be performed by people with the lowest diplomatic status, and this is incomprehensible, bearing in mind that these are the two closest countries , probably in Europe," he believes.
As he said, it will be very interesting to follow the reactions of the people who form the new government.
"I would expect the new Minister of Foreign Affairs in Podgorica, after the first visits, to immediately visit Belgrade and arrange the establishment of new diplomatic relations at the level of career diplomats, and that would relax relations and create conditions for better communication," he said.
He also assessed that the relations between the two countries had heated up for no reason and that one of the first tasks of the new government should be to reduce these tensions.
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