The Socialist People's Party (SNP), if it had wanted to, could have stopped the process of separating Serbia and Montenegro. Maybe they said differently in Montenegro, but no one from the Federal Government had any objections, he said in an interview for "Vijesti" Zoran Zivkovic, former Prime Minister of Serbia, Federal Minister of the Interior from November 2000 to March 2003, in governments Zoran Žižić i Dragisa Pesic, and one of the closest associates of the assassinated Prime Minister of Serbia Zoran Djindjic.
Živković reminds that contacts with Milo Đukanović and his associates have existed since the nineties.
"We helped Milo back in 1997, when he had problems with electoral fraud in the first round. We managed to protect the process and he won in the second round," he says.
The elections for the President of the Republic of Montenegro, mentioned by Živković, were regular elections for the position of president and were held in October 1997. The first round of elections was held on 5 October, and the second on 19 October. Although he received the most votes in the first round, Momir Bulatović did not win the legally required majority, so the two top-ranked candidates entered the second round, and Đukanović won with 50,8 percent of the votes.
According to initial data from the Supreme Court of Montenegro, the total number of citizens who were subsequently registered on the electoral roll on various grounds after the first round of elections in the entire territory of Montenegro was around 9.000, which represented a significant change of around 2 percent compared to the total number of voters, and it subsequently turned out that the total number of requests received on the eve of the second round of elections exceeded 13.000, which represented almost 3 percent compared to the total electorate, of which as many as 7.805 cases were positively resolved...
Friendly conversations
Zoran Đinđić was in Montenegro during the NATO bombing, but, as Zoran Živković says, talks about disassociation began in earnest only after October 5, at the end of 2000.
"These were not conflicts, but friendly, brotherly talks. There was no animosity, but a rational assessment that a federation in which one state has 15 to 20 times more inhabitants than the other, with completely different development goals, is simply not sustainable."
According to him, Montenegro's further development was naturally focused on tourism, while Serbia had other priorities - industry, agriculture and food production.
"These differences required opposing customs policies. If you develop tourism, you have to liberalize imports, and if you protect industry, you have to strengthen barriers. It was clear that a common economic policy could not work there."
When asked what specifically motivated Prime Minister Djindjic, Živković points out practical reasons.
"He was interested in economic and legal aspects: customs, taxes, subsidies. All of this was difficult to harmonize within the framework of a state union. Separation offered a clearer and more stable situation."
At the time, the Democratic Party of Serbia and the SNP were part of the federal government, but, as Živković says, they had no real objections. “Of course, they said something different in Montenegro, they portrayed the separation negatively, but no one from the federal government tried to stop the process. If they had really opposed it, they could have taken political, operational, practical steps and prevented all of that.”
They discussed, says Živković, the rights of Serbs in Montenegro and Montenegrins in Serbia, and it was agreed that national rights would be protected at the highest level of the European Union.
Vučić is Serbia's problem
The European Union, according to him, viewed the process with approval.
“They had no objections. They saw it as similar to the separation of the Czech Republic and Slovakia - peaceful, agreed upon and without conflict. During the subsequent referendum, Đukanović had their support.”
From today's distance, Živković is convinced that the separation was right.
"It did not harm either Serbia or Montenegro. If someone thinks it was a mistake, they can always launch an initiative for reunification. I have personally been vacationing in Montenegro for over 40 years and have never had any problems - relations have remained good."
Speaking about today's politics, Živković emphasizes that Montenegro is not threatened by Serbia, but that he sees the biggest problem in the regime. Aleksandar Vučić.
"This is, first and foremost, a huge danger for Serbia and its citizens. His policy is based on lies and self-deception. It is a burden for the entire region, but the solution to this problem lies primarily in Serbia."
Živković says that the separation of Serbia and Montenegro was a process guided by reason, not conflict, and that he still considers it beneficial for both countries.
Montenegrins in the governments of the FRY after 2000
The government of Zoran Žižić (SNP), formed on 4 November 2000, was the result of an agreement between the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS), the Socialist People's Party of Montenegro and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), after Slobodan Milošević lost power following the elections on 5 October. In addition to Zoran Živković, who was Minister of Internal Affairs, the Montenegrin cadres in the government included Momčilo Grubač (SNP), and General Dragoljub Ojdanić, after the changes, was succeeded by Slobodan Krapović (SNP), father of the current Minister of Defense of Montenegro, Dragan Krapović.
The government lasted until July 2001, when Žižić resigned due to the decision to extradite Slobodan Milošević to the Hague Tribunal (June 28, 2001). He was succeeded by Dragiša Pešić (SNP), and Grubač and Krapović remained in this government, who was replaced in 2002 by Velimir Radojević.
In the governments headed by Žižić and Pešić, the following Montenegrins held the positions of deputy and assistant ministers: Radoje Kontić, Žarko Radulović, Branislav Radulović, Branko Vujović, Zoran Lakićević, Predrag Sekulić, Dragan Šoć, Miodrag Radunović, Dragan Kujović...
Bonus video:
