Although some Montenegrin officials have done almost everything to damage relations with Croatia, and so there is a danger that it will block Montenegro's path to the European Union (EU), this can be prevented if Podgorica shows that it sincerely wants to resolve the issues that Zagreb considered open.
With these words, the interlocutors of "Vijesti" are commenting on the possibility of Croatia disrupting Montenegro's negotiations with Brussels, after it recently submitted a non-paper (informal diplomatic document) to Podgorica in which it made demands for the resolution of several issues.
As "Vijesti" announced on Thursday, referring to information from the Government and diplomatic sources, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) received a document with ten points about fifteen days ago, in which, among other things, it was stated that it is necessary to resolve the issues of ownership of school ship "Jadran", mutual demarcation, prosecution of war crimes, finding missing persons, as well as the issue of the name of the city swimming pool in Kotor. Zagreb's "Jutarnji list" announced the day before yesterday that among the demands were the provision of compensation to "all those who were detained in camps in Montenegro during the Homeland War", and the protection and preservation of the identity of the Croatian minority.
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Non-paper arrived to meet a potential "green light" from the EU to Montenegro to close four chapters in negotiations with that community by the end of the year, which Zagreb could stop in the Union's bodies.
Open interstate issues are often used as a political tool, so, among other things, Slovenia blocked Croatia's EU membership due to the border in the Gulf of Piran, while Bulgaria and Greece obstructed the opening of Union negotiations with North Macedonia due to issues of language and history, i.e. the name and countries.
The blockade (can't) last for a long time
When asked how likely it is to happen to Montenegro, the diplomat and professor of international relations Vesko Garcevic he responded by saying that there is a "high possibility" that Zagreb will slow down or block Podgorica's path to the EU. This, he says, will probably happen if the two countries do not find an acceptable solution to the existing disputes.
"Croatia has done this before - in 2017, it blocked Serbia's negotiations with the EU for several months, and recently joined a group of other members and voted against opening new chapters with Serbia. Although our dispute and the case of Serbia are not the same, these actions of Zagreb signal that Croatia would be ready to take a similar step", Garčević assessed for "Vijesti".
He, however, notes that another question is how long Zagreb could block Podgorica, if that were to happen. If, he says, there is a strong will in the EU to open the doors of the Union to Montenegro, and if this is the common position of all other members, including Germany and France, that would, he claims, expose Croatia to pressure to resolve the dispute with Montenegro as soon as possible.
"This is all the more so since Croatian officials, in the years after joining the EU, emphasized several times that, unlike Slovenia, Croatia will not block the accession of future members from the region," Garčević reminded.
The "Vijesti" source from the Government claims that Croatia announced in a non-paper that it supports Podgorica's path to the EU and that it insists on "good neighborly relations". Montenegro, he says, responded to each request individually, said it wanted to talk by offering consultations, and said it appreciated Zagreb's support.
The newspaper's source from diplomatic circles claims that it is the MFA, which it heads Ervin Ibrahimovic (Bosniak Party), responded this week, also in the form of a non-paper, and adds that, according to his assessment, the goal of the document sent to Croatia is to create space so that it can be said that something is being done to resolve disputed issues.
He states that, among other things, Montenegro proposed the formation of a working group in order to continue discussions on delimitation, and that when asked about the name of the swimming pool in Kotor, it responded with the words that it was the decision of the local government there, that there had recently been elections in that municipality. , that a new self-government was not formed...
"You know who undermines progress"
Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Croatia Miro Kovač, told "Vijesta", without specifying how likely Zagreb is to block Podgorica, that Croatia "in principle strongly supports" the accession of Montenegro to the EU, for the reason that, he claims, it is in its interest to have "as stable and predictable a neighborhood as possible based on common values and framework European regulation".
"Even official Montenegro knows that on the way to membership it is necessary to fulfill the negotiation criteria, which are defined by the member states in cooperation with the European Commission", he added, reminding that the opening/closing of a chapter requires a unanimous decision of all EU members, and that if only one expresses opposition - the chapter cannot be open, that is, "crossed out".
Asked what Podgorica should do to prevent a possible blockade of the negotiations, Kovač replied that it is up to the Montenegrin authorities to show "sincere commitment to the negotiation process and thus to the resolution of open issues, in this case with Croatia."
"Where there's a will, there's a way. The will in Croatia to strongly support Montenegro in the EU accession process clearly exists. Montenegro must also clearly show its willingness to resolve open issues with Croatia. If there are factors that hinder the officially proclaimed European orientation of Montenegro, and there are - then I guess they can be held accountable, right?", he assesses.
When asked whether a potential blockade could be prevented given the current political constellation in Podgorica, Kovač said that opening several chapters by the end of the year would be "the biggest defeat for those who are purposefully hindering Montenegro's progress towards EU membership".
"We in Croatia know this, just as in Montenegro we know who is undermining progress in its negotiation process. That is why it is up to the sincerely committed people in the official structures of Montenegro to help Croatia so that it can continue to strongly help Montenegro on its way to EU membership", he underlined.
"Easy" solutions, compromises, arbitration
Montenegro has been negotiating with the EU since June 2012, and since then it has opened all chapters (33 in total) and temporarily closed three. Prime Minister's Government Milojko Spajić (Movement Europe now) says that it hopes that by the end of the year, four chapters will be "crossed out" - 7 (intellectual property rights), 10 (information society and media), 20 (entrepreneurship and industrial policy) and 31 (external, security and defense policy). The procedure for closing the chapter entered the phase of consideration by working groups in the Council of the EU.
Evaluating that individual officials of Montenegro, including some ministers, did "almost everything necessary to spoil relations with Croatia and probably slow down EU accession", Vesko Garčević states that Podgorica cannot hope for a quick entry into that community, "without at the same time, he puts the interests of Belgrade and Serbia before his own national interests".
"This does not only concern the resolution on Jasenovac, but also the relationship to the actions that Yugoslavia, and Montenegro, made during the wars of the 1990s," he adds.
The interlocutor says that Montenegro has put itself in a difficult situation, that it would be logical for it to initiate talks with Croatia, "in order to restore the collapsed trust and create assumptions that open issues can be discussed in a different way".
"I think that some issues can be resolved relatively easily - for example, changing the name of the swimming pool in Kotor or the issue of the memorial plaque in the 'Morinj' camp), but that requires a clear position from all participants in the Government, which at this moment, it seems, is not possible. Other issues could be resolved with the good will of both parties to find a creative solution or, as a last resort, a solution could be sought through international arbitration," concludes Garčević.
"Jadran", tabla, Jasenovac, undesirable...
The "cooling" of relations with Zagreb began in the winter, after the Croatian defense minister Ivan Anusic canceled the meeting with his Montenegrin colleague during his visit to Montenegro Dragan Krapović (Democrats) because, as he explained, of Krapović's views on the ship "Jadran" and the memorial plaque at the former camp "Morinj" in Kotor. Krapović previously stated that Croatia has no right to claim "Jadran" and that the plaque in Morinje should be replaced by another one, "with adequate text". The plaque, discovered two years ago, mentions the "Greater Serbian aggression against Croatia" and reads: "We remember the crimes committed to disgrace the name and spirit of Montenegro." We express our regret for all the suffering experienced by the detainees. That it never happens again".
An additional tightening of relations followed at the end of June, when the Montenegrin parliament adopted the Resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps.
That document was voted on the initiative of part of the ruling majority, after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Resolution on the genocide in Srebrenica at the end of May. This was done with the support of Montenegro, which was opposed by the parties of the former Democratic Front (DF), which therefore demanded that the Montenegrin Assembly be determined by a resolution on Jasenovac.
Croatia reacted violently to the adoption of that document, saying that it regretted that Montenegro decided to ignore the calls of their country "not to politicize the victims of Jasenovac". Zagreb then announced that Podgorica must meet the final benchmarks in order to close the negotiation chapter 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights), and that they will "jump in" with their benchmarks.
"Montenegro must show progress and results related to the prosecution of war crimes, including determining responsibility at high levels, solving cases of missing persons, as well as the issue of compensation for victims, and the protection of national minorities and their rights," the Ministry said, among other things of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia.
After that, in July, Zagreb declared the head of the parliament undesirable Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy), Deputy Prime Minister Aleks Bečić (Democrats) and deputies Milan Knežević (Democratic People's Party) due to "systematic action to disrupt good neighborly relations with the Republic of Croatia and continuous abuse of the Republic of Croatia for internal political purposes", thus alluding to the decision to adopt the resolution in Jasenovac.
Jakovčić: Both sides must shed light on "their" crimes
Even before the non-paper, Croatia asked Montenegro to shed light on war crimes during the attack on Dubrovnik that began on October 1, 1991 and the siege of the city that lasted until May 1992, as well as crimes against Croatian citizens in Montenegro, including the camp "Morinj" where more than 350 Croatian citizens were detained from September 1991 to August 1992.
Eugen Jakovčić, a human rights activist from Croatia and a former representative of Documenta - the Center for Facing the Past, told "Vijesta" that, in the context of negotiations with the EU, it is important for Montenegro to start investigating war crimes.
"I think it is important that the Montenegrin institutions, the Special Prosecutor's Office, on their own initiative and in cooperation with the State Attorney's Office of the Republic of Croatia, work on collecting evidence, prosecuting all those who are not available to the Croatian authorities and have committed crimes in the area of Dubrovnik. So far, that score is very poor. Apart from the two leading JNA (Yugoslav People's Army) commanders of the attack on Dubrovnik who were sentenced in The Hague, those who committed numerous crimes during that long siege, which lasted for several months, torture, imprisonment, and being taken to the Morinj camp, seem to have been left out. '...', he states.
Jakovčić notes that Croatia also has responsibilities in terms of investigating war crimes, primarily the issue of a group of Montenegrin citizens who were captured in the "Lora" camp in Split.
"Action for Human Rights is exerting a lot of pressure and together with Documenta they are delivering as much evidence as possible and witnesses. I think that, from the Montenegrin side, this can be used as an invitation to Croatia to go together, if they cannot extradite their citizens to each other - to exchange evidence and that Montenegro then initiate proceedings based on that evidence", he said.
Brailo: Governments must talk, we cannot pretend that nothing happened
Prominent Croatian journalist and war reporter from Dubrovnik, Luko Brailo, told "Vijesta" that he wants to believe that in Zagreb and Podgorica "there are enough smart, reasonable people" that they can sit down and finally start discussing controversial issues.
"We can talk about what is being said on both sides. The political moment is very sensitive throughout Europe, but it is also a fact that the last war period was not discussed in a serious way... Governments and governments passed, and little was discussed. Mostly it came down to some protocol-parade meetings, Dubrovnik-Boka tourism - tourists from Dubrovnik come to Kotor and Cetinje, we take people from Cetinje and Bolka to Dubrovnik... But you can't stop there," he says.
Brailo says that "we can't pretend that nothing happened".
"Big, ugly things have happened, and now a generation of politicians must come along who will understand it rationally and determine, somewhere in silence, that both sides talk about it with the full mandates of their governments. That is the only way to overcome the problems", he said.
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