They fell alone, they killed themselves: Montenegro closes three chapters, Croatia ramps up for one

Montenegro is the most responsible for the fact that by the end of the year it will close three, not four, chapters in the negotiations with the European Union (EU), as expected by the Government. It happened because of the lack of skill and skill, and the inability to recognize the importance of the moment and the necessity of focusing on what is important and leaving aside what is not absolutely necessary.

With these words, citizen activist Dina Bajramspahić comments on last night's decision of the body of the Council of the EU - COREPER II (Committee of Permanent Representatives of Member States), where the closing of chapters 7 (intellectual property rights), 10 (information society and media) and 20 ( entrepreneurship and industrial policy), while chapter 31 (foreign, security and defense policy) will not be "crossed out" due to Croatia's opposition.

"Vijesti" announced yesterday that the closure of that chapter is questionable due to the damaged "good neighborly relations with Zagreb", even though this issue does not directly concern that chapter and even though the state has met the criteria required for its "cross-over".

In the last year, relations with Croatia have deteriorated due to several issues. Among other things, the ownership of the ship "Jadran" and the board at the former camp "Morinj" in Kotor, but the biggest "cooling off" happened this summer, when the Montenegrin parliament adopted a resolution on the genocide in the Jasenovac camp, which Zagreb strongly resented.

It was possible to sense that a blockade was in the offing recently, when "Vijesti" announced that official Zagreb sent a non-paper (informal diplomatic document) to Podgorica in November, in which it set out requests to resolve several issues it considers open. Although Montenegro has since taken some steps to try to resolve these issues, such as the decision that Tivat's "Josip Marković" House of Culture be ceded to Croatia, this did not "will" Zagreb, so it decided not to use the same mechanism by which Slovenia at one time hindered his path to the EU.

A "Vijesti" source from diplomatic circles said that the decision of COREPER II should be confirmed by the Council of the EU on Monday, after which, on the same day, an Intergovernmental Conference between Montenegro and the EU will be held where the three chapters will be formally closed.

That interlocutor claims that the state achieved an "exceptional success" last night, despite the fact that four chapters were not "crossed out",

"Because the year ends with three intergovernmental conferences and three closed chapters, that is, the first closed chapters in the last seven years," he says.

Bajramspahić: Avoid placing logs on the road

Bajramspahić assesses that no injustice was done to Montenegro last night in Brussels, and that the decision was made - in accordance with the factual situation.

"I am sincerely sorry that we did not close four chapters. I support Montenegro, as well as the national team, even when the 'management' is unsatisfactory. However, it would be immature to blame the 'judge' - we did this to ourselves... In Chapter 31, good neighborly relations are valued qualitatively, not technically. In addition to monitoring and harmonizing with the European foreign and security policy, good neighborly relations are the core and heart of Chapter 31, and we have done a lot to spoil them in this critical year," she said, adding that she hoped the Government would "learn a lesson. ” and approach obligations in the process more carefully, no longer relying on other EU member states to fight its battles.

The interlocutor states that the ease with which the executive power "downplayed" obvious obstacles - paid off. Despite, he recalls, all the warnings that came from numerous addresses, domestic and international, the Government, he says, started reacting and making promises to Croatia too late. However, he notes, promises are not enough to close chapters, but their realization.

"Secondly, it would be good for the Government to start influencing their coalition partners when they go crazy with ideas, instead of producing incoherent justifications for them. "Unfortunately, in the previous period, instead of advocating not to deviate from the European track, those who call themselves pro-European did not sufficiently prevent acts that spoil the overall impression of the situation in Montenegro", claims Bajramspahić.

On several occasions, after the adoption of the resolution on Jasenovac, the EU said that "good neighborly relations are an essential element of the process of joining" that community.

Bajramspahić states that treating the EU integration process as a technical one, without understanding that qualitative issues decisively influence decisions, is also a problem that has had consequences for the last four years. The governments before 2020, he says, opened 33 chapters in eight years and temporarily closed three, while the new government, after four and a half years of stagnation, just started to close chapters and "crossed out" three.

"There are as many as 27 left to close, which is a huge challenge," adds the interlocutor.

She says that it is crucial that the consequence of last night's decision is not resentment, but greater seriousness and responsibility. If, he says, the state really wants to make an effort for the next two years, then this ends "the first fifth of the game and already during the next year we have 'corrections'". In the coming months, he notes, it is possible to close Chapter 31, but it is not guaranteed and depends on the future actions of the state.

Bajramspahić reminds that on January 1, 2025, Poland's presidency of the Council of the EU will begin, and that its priority will be security issues. The good news, he says, is that the Polish government, headed by Donald Tusk, is pro-European and Euro-Atlantic, which, he adds, will mean a potential six months of work on strengthening the Union.

"Expansion also remains a priority. We have too little time and too much work. Until the end of the negotiations, relations with neighbors must be guarded with utmost care, reforms should be carried out more than requested, standards and principles of the rule of law should be respected and obstacles should be avoided. That has not been the ruling majority's strong point so far," she says.

The interlocutor says that Montenegro got the maximum benefit from the "favorable geostrategic moment", but that the most challenging tasks are yet to come.

"With further progress, more member states will begin to ask concrete questions and demand tangible changes, and this requires essential structural changes on our part. Barometer 26 records the first failure and is now called '27'", states Bajramspahić, alluding to "Barometer 26", the Government's recently presented platform on "joint obligations" to end negotiations with the EU.

First chapter closing in seven years

The Minister of European Affairs, Maida Gorčević (Movement Evropa Sad), said last night that Montenegro "can be happy".

"At the session of COREPER II in the Council of the EU, it was decided that for the first time after seven long years we are closing the negotiation chapters...", she announced.

Gorčević said that, in a little more than 12 months, Montenegro fulfilled the temporary benchmarks for chapters 23 and 24, received the first IBAR (Report on the assessment of the fulfillment of temporary benchmarks for those chapters) in the history of the EU, received the approval of the Reform Agenda in the amount of over 380 million euros...

He adds that the conclusions on the enlargement, which the ambassadors to the EU discussed last night, possibly include technical preparations for the drafting of the contract on the accession of Montenegro to the EU and "confirmation of the ambition that Montenegro completes the negotiations by the end of 2026".

The government has repeatedly announced that four chapters will be closed by the end of the year, without publicly mentioning the possibility of a Croatian blockade. In March, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić (Movement Evropa Sad) said at a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary, Peter Sijart, who will preside over the EU until the end of the year, that he expects to close "eight or nine chapters".

The President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and one of the leaders of the European Union, Ivan Vujović, asked last night if anyone would be held responsible for the fact that the "main and most sensitive chapter" was blocked. According to him, the former Democratic Front (DF) entered the Government in order to "spoil relations with the neighbors", following "the order of the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, that Montenegro should not enter the EU".

"Today's (last night's) decision is the result of that targeted destruction," Vujović wrote on the "Iks" network.

A series of open questions

"Vijesti" announced last week, referring to information from the Government and diplomatic sources, that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received from Zagreb a document with ten points, in which, among other things, it was stated that it is necessary to resolve the ownership of the 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" subsequently announced that among the demands were the provision of compensation to "all those who were detained in camps in Montenegro during the Homeland War", as well as the protection and preservation of the identity of the Croatian minority.

According to "Vijesti" sources, Montenegro responded to each of Zagreb's requests individually, said it wanted to talk by offering consultations, and said it appreciated Croatia's support.

The "cooling" of relations with Zagreb began in the winter, after Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić canceled, during his visit to Montenegro, a meeting with his Montenegrin colleague Dragan Krapović (Democrat) due to, as he explained, Krapović's views on the ship "Jadran" and the memorial plaque at the former Morinj camp 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 "Greater Serbia's aggression against Croatia"...

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 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.

After that, in July, Zagreb declared the Speaker of the Parliament Andrija Mandić (New Serbian Democracy), Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić (Democrats) and MP Milan Knežević (Democratic People's Party) undesirable because of "systemic actions to undermine 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.

PES: Access process unblocked; DPS: The government cannot bring us into the EU

The ruling Europe Now Movement announced last night that the decision of COREPER II "completely unblocked the process of accession of Montenegro to the EU".

The strongest opposition party, the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), assessed that the blocking of the closing of Chapter 31 is "another confirmation that the current parliamentary majority and the Government cannot introduce Montenegro into the EU".

"The destruction of good-neighborly relations, protest notes from almost all countries in the region, the fact that the highest state officials are prohibited from entering neighboring Croatia, as well as the last disgrace, when (Andrija) Mandić was de facto declared persona non grata in Brussels, have come to pay in in the form of blocking of negotiation chapter 31", they announced last night.

In that party, they believe that because of this, as well as the fact that the Government has been "completely delegitimized by the results of the local elections", it is necessary to urgently hold extraordinary parliamentary elections.