After recently receiving the Report on the Assessment of the Fulfillment of Temporary Benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR) for Chapters 23 and 24, it achieved important progress towards the EU, and then there was the cancellation of the visit of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to Montenegro and the cooling of relations between Podgorica and Zagreb due to of the adoption of the Resolution on Jasenovac, former Montenegrin Minister of European Integration Gordana Đurović assessed that Montenegro received two "diplomatic minuses", which can affect the country's European path.
Đurović states that "one diplomatic minus is the adoption of the Resolution on Genocide in the system of Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen camps, and the second is the cancellation of the official visit of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who was supposed to visit Podgorica after Montenegro received IBAR.
According to her assessment, "the adoption of the Resolution on Jasenovac contributed to Montenegro not being included in the conclusions of the European Council on the progress of the candidate countries", which, Đurović reminds, is a key document that speaks of progress in the previous period.
"And when you are not in the conclusions of the European Council, it is as if the conference never took place. This is a big minus for the promotion of good news coming from the EU", warns Đurović.
She believes that Montenegro "opens up space for entering the zone of potential blockage of the accession process in one of its subsequent phases".
"There are known instruments that are available to EU member states, if they have some bilateral problems with one of the candidate countries," says Đurović.
According to Đurović, the resolution on Jasenovac does not contribute to the culture of memory, but, as he states, "is a necessity of daily politics in Montenegro and the collapse of the foreign policy positions of Montenegro, which has inherited good neighborly relations for decades."
Đurović also states that "Montenegro has been worsening relations with neighboring Croatia for months" and indicates that "there is no reasonable basis for this".
"Instead of reducing the number of open bilateral issues with neighboring Croatia, Montenegro multiplies that number. In this way, we put ourselves in a more difficult position, which gives us a weaker starting position for negotiations. "Croatia can block the closing of a negotiation chapter, postpone the Intergovernmental Conference...Croatia is not the EU, but it is an EU member state with full voting rights, because the enlargement policy is based on consensus," Đurović points out.
She also said that she "does not see that the adoption of the Resolution on Jesenovac is something praised by Serbia".
"Praises, sincere congratulations, or even protocol diplomatic congratulations were absent... No one from Serbia praised us for adopting the resolution on Jasenovac. We brag about how we are the only ones on the planet to do that, and now the question is what did we get out of it. We spoiled relations with Croatia, we did not improve relations with Serbia, and the adoption of that Resolution only brought additional internal political turbulence", says Đurović.
She believes that the political actors in Montenegro, after the adoption of the Resolution on Jasenovac, are in the same positions with regard to their electorate.
"Messages to the electorate that had populist and ethno-nationalist overtones are known to the internal public. Everyone is in the same position regarding their relationship with their electorate, but the situation is becoming politically radicalized, which can cause a negative domino effect. It may cause other ethnic groups to feel threatened now. We need to reduce those resolutions in our Parliament and deal with European integration in the way that is expected of Montenegro", says Đurović.
She says that if Montenegro wants to successfully end the negotiation process, it must preserve good neighborly relations, create a good negotiation platform and adopt a reform agenda.
When it comes to Montenegro's EU membership, Đurović says he doesn't want to bid on dates.
"In European terminology - the window opened for us, we would go through the door. The door is not yet open, it is half-open," concluded the former Minister of European Integration of Montenegro.
Spajić: We make decisions independently
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced that "all decisions, including those for Srebrenica, Jasenovac, Mathauzen and Dachau - we make as an independent country that decided on principle and will decide on such topics from the past".
Spajić wrote on the X network that "in Kotor, at the Summit of the leaders of the Western Balkans, he conveyed to the President of Serbia (Aleksandar Vučić) that Montenegro will be principled in condemning every crime and that all resolutions, which are focused on paying respect to the victims, and not to condemnations, historical circumstances, geopolitics, etc. be supported, and these other topics should be left to historians to objectively investigate the circumstances".
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"Bilateral relations with all neighbors are very important to us, and it is important that all potentially open issues are resolved to the end - partners will respect you more in the long term if you are predictable and if they know that you will stick to the same standard for everyone until the end. Montenegro is one one of the rare countries with a principled attitude and will not deviate from it," Spajić said.
However, he added that "resolutions and the past are not our focus and should be left in the shadow of our country's progress in terms of the economy, the rule of law and European integration, and he said that "instead of beautifying the past - let's deal with a better future".
EC: Good neighborly relations and regional cooperation are key parts of the enlargement process
The European Commission announced on Wednesday that "they are aware that the Parliament of Montenegro adopted a resolution on Jasenovac on June 28".
In response to Voice of America's questions, the official of the EC's media sector for foreign policy and security, Piotr Cichocki, wrote that "overcoming the difficult legacy of the past and promoting sincere reconciliation should be joint efforts."
"We remind you that good neighborly relations and regional cooperation are key parts of the enlargement process," the EC announced.
The European Commission assessed that "the recent Intergovernmental Conference with Montenegro marked a historic step towards the country's membership in the EU".
"We encourage the authorities to remain resolutely focused on meeting citizens' expectations by implementing the reforms necessary for progress on the strategic path of the European Union," it was announced from Brussels.
Milović: The resolution on Jasenovac is an insignificant act exclusively to the detriment of Montenegro
Montenegrin Minister of Justice Andrej Milović said, in an interview with the Croatian Jutarnji list, that he believes that the parliament's decision on the Resolution on Jasenovac is an "insignificant act solely to the detriment of Montenegro" and expressed the hope that Croatia will be wise, "understanding what this is really about. ..assume a higher interest than everything else - the accession of Montenegro to the EU".
"The majority itself - and only one vote ruled in a politically difficult and special moment for the government of Milojko Spajić - by which that resolution was passed testifies to the fact that people are aware that this is not our interest, and that Montenegro should be guided by its own interests, and not the interests of other countries", said Milović and pointed out that "Croatia is one of the most important allies of Montenegro and a key partner on our way to the EU".
Plenković: The resolution on Jasenovac is an extremely bad and unnecessary move
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said, commenting on the adoption of the Resolution on Genocide in the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen camp system in the Parliament of Montenegro, that the Government of Croatia communicated very clearly to the Montenegrin authorities that the adoption of such a resolution is harmful to bilateral relations.
"We believe that this is an extremely bad and unnecessary move, especially since Croatia was, to the greatest extent, very constructive when it comes to solving open bilateral issues and when it comes to Montenegro's European path," Plenković told reporters in Zagreb, it was reported. on the website of the Government of Croatia.
The Croatian Prime Minister, as written on the website of the Government of Croatia, also said that, with this move towards Croatia, Montenegro is sending a signal that raises the question of trust and intention.
The intention, as he stated, is related exclusively to intra-Montenegrin discussions, instrumentalization by some others after the UN Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica and reminded that this UN Resolution was adopted at the suggestion of Germany and Rwanda, and that for it Montenegro Gora voted.
"Was this supposed to be some kind of internal laundering, in any case, if they intend to do it at the expense and expense of Croatia, it certainly won't," he emphasized, adding that Croatia will know what to do.
On June 28, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted, with the votes of 41 members of the parliamentary majority, a resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac initiated by pro-Serbian parties, which could affect relations with neighboring Croatia, which had previously sent a note of protest to Podgorica.
After the adoption of that Resolution, the visit of the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, to Podgorica was cancelled, so Michel subsequently met with Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović in Brussels.
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