Many in Serbia and Montenegro cannot come to terms with the fact that they are two independent countries, which is the essence of misunderstanding and bad relations from which all fundamental misunderstandings arise, according to the deputy editor-in-chief of NIN, Vesna Mališić.
She assessed that the relations between Montenegro and Serbia are very bad.
In an interview with the MINA agency, Mališić said that disappointed expectations are at the epicenter of the bad relationship between the two states.
She said that she was primarily referring to the restoration of Montenegrin statehood in 2006, which, as she stated, was experienced very traumatically in Serbia.
"So much so that from that irrational feeling of "losing" and "fraternal betrayal" it was overlooked that with that act, Serbia, as also an old country, renewed its statehood," said Mališić.
She said that, completely absurdly, Serbia was not happy about its statehood because it was "staring at the runaway bride".
"I remember those celebratory convoys of cars in Montenegrin cities with Montenegrin flags flying, bubbling champagne and the depressing atmosphere in Serbia," added Mališić.
As she stated, instead of the politicians in Serbia turning that moment into their own holiday and behaving in such a way as to impress the citizens and raise their self-esteem, they imposed a sense of defeat and hurt on the whole of Serbia and made its citizens feel frustrated and losers.
That, as Mališić said, is the emotional basis of the relationship between the two countries, which has not changed to this day.
According to her, this is precisely why the fall of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) from power was expected as "a small revenge and satisfaction for previous miseries and resentments".
"With the conviction that we will finally start love from the beginning, and that the new government will erase everything that spoiled our happiness in the meantime, for example the recognition of Kosovo, sanctions against Russia, membership in NATO," said Mališić.
According to her, it turned out very quickly that the new Montenegrin government, i.e. that part of it with decisive influence, once again failed expectations, "despite the fact that two visible representatives of the Democratic Front (DF) for months made the mise-en-scène of the Serbian world on the stages from which addressed by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić".
"So the essence of misunderstanding and bad relations is that many in Serbia and Montenegro cannot come to terms with the fact that they are two separate, independent states." All essential misunderstandings arise from this," Mališić assessed.
Answering the question of how she explains the fact that the relations between Montenegro and Serbia are not much better even after the formation of the new Montenegrin Government, she said that the majority belief in Serbia is that DPS leader Milo Đukanović is the main obstacle to the return to relations before the separation of the two states.
As Mališić said, this is precisely why the new government in Montenegro was welcomed with great enthusiasm, hope and support.
"The media in Serbia followed the election process in Montenegro more passionately and in more detail than if it was their own country." Not to mention the fact that the electoral process in Montenegro was supported in a different way," said Mališić.
According to her, the processions also fueled the imagination of a new beginning, "which in Serbia was also read as the restoration of Serbia in Montenegro, after which nothing will be the same."
"But surprisingly, the new government, that is, a part of it, still accepted the statehood that was renewed in 2006 and all the international treaties that the Montenegrin state, that is the government of Đukanović, signed as the most valuable asset," said Mališić.
She said that after the election, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić distanced himself in a certain way from the assessment "that Belgrade and the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) are decisively responsible for his victory".
"And what do we have now?" Expectations were once again disappointed, even regarding the fundamental contract with the SOC, or Montenegro's persistent refusal to join Vučić's "Open Balkans" initiative, Mališić said.
According to her, this results in very cold political relations between the leaders of the two countries and occasional offensive tabloid covers in Serbia, which disparage the representatives of the Montenegrin government, old and new.
Answering the question of what is the main reason why Serbia does not want to appoint a new ambassador to Montenegro, after Vladimir Božović was declared persona non grata, Mališić said that this question actually shows how "stuck" the relations between the two countries are.
"Montenegro refers to the current situation that binds it, to the interpretation that it cannot withdraw the decision to declare the ambassador persona non grata, without violating international conventions, and Serbia again insists on returning the ambassador, with a repeated procedure," said Mališić.
She added that there is probably a clear diplomatic practice for such cases.
"And it seems to me that this case is in the realm of waiting to see which side will give in first, and in a way it is a balancing act," said Mališić.
Asked to comment on Krivokapić's visit to Serbia, Mališić said that it was painful, the first official visit of the new Prime Minister of Montenegro to Belgrade.
"The one who represented the new Montenegrin government, the one that failed expectations. That's exactly the kind of treatment he had. Diplomatic and media", said Mališić.
As she said, Krivokapić was met at the airport by the Minister of Agriculture in jeans and without a tie.
"And we found out about it from the Montenegrin Prime Minister's Instagram and through a "story" and not an official announcement, as is the practice of officials during such visits," said Mališić.
According to her, all the subsequent excuses and explanations, even the gala dinner, did not help to prevent this gaffe, which is unprecedented in diplomacy, from being perceived as an act of disrespect to the official guest, but also to the Montenegrin state.
"And the entire visit amounts to an event of second-rate importance," said Mališić.
Speaking about the threats she experienced on Twitter, after commenting on the situation in Montenegro due to the adoption of the Law on Freedom of Religion, she stated that in Serbia during the litany it was very risky to critically comment on the events in Montenegro.
"Because the degree of identification with those events was as much as touching the very heart of a Serbian being or Serbia itself," said Mališić.
She added that expectations from those events were huge.
"The government indirectly, through all the platforms and media it controls, put the few critics of the Montenegrin "people's event" on a pillar of shame, while other nationalists welcomed them on social networks, which became a space for extreme and uncontrolled outpouring of threats, hatred and the worst insults" , said Mališić.
According to her, it was so brutal that it is perhaps understandable why there were so few critical voices.
Mališić said that, unfortunately, this indicates that the political pendulum in Serbia has swung too far to the right.
"That the depth of Serbian society is radicalized so much that it becomes acceptable that even convicted war criminals are celebrated as national heroes, and that the public space is poisoned with hatred and exclusivity, continuously renewing the state of war," said Mališić.
It is, as she said, a political landscape in which individuals try to think and speak freely, counting on the harsh retribution that awaits them.
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