Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić from the Europe Now Movement (PES), who has been in office since autumn, presented the reconstructed government last Sunday.
He is supported by a coalition that includes leaders of pro-Serbian and pro-Russian parties, including Andrija Mandić and Milan Knežević, leaders of the New Serbian Democracy (NSD) and the People's Democratic Party of Montenegro (DNP). Mandić has also been the President of the Parliament of Montenegro since October.
More stability?
Mandić and Knežević are declared Putin supporters, sometimes they indirectly declare against the independence of Montenegro and reject the country's membership in NATO, which has existed since 2017.
They advocate the closeness of Montenegro and Serbia, are against the independence of Kosovo and deny the genocide in Srebrenica.
The entry of politicians like Mandić and Knežević into the ruling coalition is part of the agreement between Spajić and the pro-Serbian parties. Spajić, whose pro-European party had only a slight majority after the elections a year ago, was supported by 13 representatives of the pro-Serbian bloc. In return, those parties should have been rewarded with ministerial positions, which has now happened.
NSD and DNP do not have key positions in the new government, and Mandić and Knežević themselves do not have ministerial positions. However, it is questionable whether the cooperation will lead to "more stability" of the Spajić government, as promised by the prime minister.
"Led by Moscow and Belgrade"
Reactions from the country and abroad did not have to wait long. Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, who a few months ago parted ways with Spajić and his PES due to a dispute over the national energy company, commenting on the renewed Government of Montenegro, said that "Montenegro is a victim of the most primitive political trade and irresponsibility that the Prime Minister continuously shows in running the country ".
The leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Socialists Andrija Nikolić expressed himself in the same tone.
However, unlike Milatović, who is considered pro-Serbian, he is much more direct in his criticisms regarding external influences. "It is a government that is managed from Moscow and Belgrade," he told Montenegrin media last Sunday.
The American government also reacted through the embassy, which had previously clearly positioned itself against the participation of pro-Serbian parties.
"We are concerned about the inclusion in the Montenegrin government of parties and leaders who do not condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine, who reject EU sanctions against Russia and whose actions are in direct contradiction to the principles of good neighborly relations," Radio Free Europe reports a message from the American Embassy in Podgorica.
Croatia's reaction
Neighboring Croatia reacted the most violently: the day after the reconstruction of the Government, the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared three high-ranking politicians from the pro-Serbian bloc to be undesirable persons in Croatia.
We are talking about the already mentioned politicians Mandić and Knežević, as well as Aleksa Bečić. The three are unwelcome in Croatia, according to the announcement, due to "systemic measures to disrupt good neighborly relations" and "continuation of abuse of the Republic of Croatia for internal political purposes".
Specifically, we are talking about the role of these politicians in the Resolution on Jasenovac, which was adopted by the parliament in Podgorica at the end of June. The resolution, which mentions the Ustasha concentration camps from the Second World War and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps, was understood by many as a response to the resolution on Srebrenica previously adopted at the UN.
According to media and analysts in Croatia, given that Montenegro voted for the resolution on Srebrenica in the UN, the pro-Serbian forces in Montenegro pushed through the Jasenovac resolution as a "countermeasure".
Endangered path to the EU?
How will the entry of pro-Serbian and pro-Russian parties affect the foreign policy of Montenegro? Zlatko Vujović, political scientist of the non-governmental organization Cemi (Center for Monitoring and Research) from Podgorica, believes that the entry of pro-Serbian and pro-Russian forces into the government is not a surprise, but a process that lasts for some time.
"Now we have forces that are under the control of Serbian President Vučić and that are working to ensure that Montenegro does not enter the EU and move away from NATO," Vujović told Deutsche Welle (DW).
For him, the resolution on Jasenovac is a pure provocation that should lead to Croatia slowing down or even stopping Montenegro's approach to the EU.
"No one in Montenegro and no one who has anything to say in Croatia denies what happened in Jasenovac. But this resolution, and especially the timing, is aimed exclusively at provoking Croatia," says Vujović.
He reminds that until 2020 and the change of government in Podgorica, Croatia and Montenegro had no significant mutual problems.
Zagreb political analyst Žarko Puhovski, on the other hand, believes that the problem with the resolution is "inflated".
"Croatia has other problems with Montenegro, such as an undefined border or an unresolved issue of real estate claims," Puhovski told DW.
For him, it is problematic that the Croatian government failed to acknowledge the crimes that took place in Jasenovac.
"Both sides were wrong: Montenegro with this completely unnecessary resolution and Croatia, whose reaction was justified, but which once again did not recognize the crimes of the Ustasha regime. This one sentence was missing," says Puhovski.
Missed statement about Jasenovac
The reporter of the ruling German liberals for the countries of the Western Balkans, Thomas Hacker, is also of the opinion that Croatia should have said that the crimes that took place in Jasenovac are not disputed, but the instrumentalization of the resolution.
"Even if some controversial politicians in Montenegro supported the resolution, this should not be used to push historical facts under the carpet. Every country, especially EU members, should face its past critically and responsibly - without taboos and without regardless of democratic party divisions. The historical facts about the monstrous crimes of the Ustasha regime are known and therefore they should be condemned," Haker told DW.
Although Croatia has said that it will not block Montenegro's path to the EU, he said that it cannot be ruled out that Croatia will block the further process of joining Montenegro.
"Unfortunately, it has become a common practice to misuse sensitive issues to block the path of other countries to Europe," Hacker concluded.
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