The European Commission (EC) wisely kept quiet in its annual report on Montenegro about some things, such as disputes with Croatia, while mentioning events such as the erection of a monument to a Chetnik commander. Pavlo Đurišić did not attach importance, not wanting to do a “favor” to the organizers of the act. This means that Brussels deliberately tried to have the report written in a positive tone, in order to keep the door open for Podgorica to complete negotiations on accession to the European Union (EU) by the end of next year.
The interlocutors of "Vijesti" thus comment on the fact that the Commission omitted from the document or only mentioned in passing some events that have attracted great attention from the Montenegrin public in the past year - frequent historical revisionism by government representatives and church dignitaries, attempts to amend several laws "under the table", negotiations with Zagreb on unresolved issues, the case of the nephew of the speaker of parliament. Andrije Mandić (New Serbian Democracy), xenophobic incidents against Turks...
When it comes to "whitewashing" history, the most illustrative example of this, which was omitted from the report, was the summer unveiling of a statue of the occupier collaborator and war criminal Đurišić in the Berane village of Gornje Zaostro, with the blessing of the Metropolitan of Budimlje-Niksić. The methodThe Commission noted the attack on the journalistic teams of “Vijesti” and “Pobjeda” that occurred at that event, but the erection of a monument to “the great hero of invincible character”, as the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral called him Joanikije - did not deserve the attention of Brussels.
The report did not mention the participation of government representatives in the revision of history. Among other things, it did not mention the assessments of the Speaker of the Parliament, Mandić, who was in that "circle" and who supported statements affirming the leaders of the Chetnik movement.
The case of his nephew was not even mentioned in the document, Danilo Mandic, who is suspected of stealing a parliamentary vehicle and shooting at two people from it, injuring them, as well as the issue of the controversial proposed amendments to the Law on the National Security Agency (ANB), which would have allowed agents to secretly monitor citizens without a court order. This proposal provoked a sharp reaction from Brussels this summer, which called on the executive branch to explain the planned amendments to the controversial regulation and allow them to analyze it. However, the reason for the non-adoption of the amendments was not the EC's warning, but a dispute within the ruling majority.
On the other hand, the Commission stated in one sentence that the proposed amendments to the Law on Public Assemblies (which the government intended to prevent road blockades in protest) had been withdrawn from the procedure, without specifying what was disputed in them. Some more space was devoted to negotiations with Croatia on open bilateral issues, but it was not specified what Podgorica and Zagreb were arguing about.
Although the report covers the period from September 1st of last year to September 1st of this year, the Commission can also record events that occurred after that. This time, it did so with the attack by the first person in the Parliament and some government deputies on the Supreme State Prosecutor's Office (VDT) and the head of that institution. Milorad Marković, who accused the prosecution of wanting to become the “fourth branch of government.” The government addressed harsh words to the prosecution on October 23. However, the document did not note a series of xenophobic incidents against Turkish citizens that occurred a few days later.
The EU Delegation in Podgorica told "Vijesti" that since last year, the structure of the report has been further simplified and focused on key findings, main events and priority recommendations.
“This approach aims to provide clarity and highlight the most significant progress and challenges during the reporting period,” they noted.
They noted that, as a rule, this year's EC report covers the reporting period from 1 September 2024 to 1 September 2025, and that in certain cases, events that occurred after that date are exceptionally included when they are assessed as "particularly relevant".
"The EU continues to closely monitor all relevant developments and to cooperate with Montenegro on all issues related to the accession process," they said.
Pantelić: What seems important to us is not necessarily so
Novinar Željko Pantelić He told "Vijesti" that the people who work in the Commission and write the report are also people, and that this means that they are not perfect, omnipotent and all-seeing, and that "what seems important to us is not necessarily and truly important."
Speaking about the erection of the monument to Đurišić, Pantelić said that, considering the number of people who gathered at the event, as well as the fact that no important political figure was at the gathering or supported the event, he assumes that the EC did not consider it important to give importance to that act.
"... That is, to just do the organizers of that provocation a favor by including it in the report, giving them an importance that they do not have in Montenegrin society," he explained.
The interlocutor believes that the Commission acted wisely in the case of Montenegrin-Croatian relations. He stated that bilateral issues with Zagreb should be resolved quickly and without much media noise.
"The revival of Ustashaism in Croatia is a very negative phenomenon and it can be said that post festum in some way justified the Resolution on Jasenovac, Mauthausen and Dachau adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro, which was the trigger for the Montenegrin-Croatian bilateral dispute," he assessed.
Pantelić stated that everyone knows why the resolution was adopted and what the motives of the proposers were, but noted that the events in the last year in Croatia "have completely knocked the ground out from under the feet of politicians who wanted to use that resolution against Montenegro."
Montenegro and Croatia began bilateral consultations at the end of January with the aim of overcoming disputes (ownership of the ship "Jadran", compensation for prisoners from Morinje, a plaque on the site of that casemate...) because of which Zagreb prevented Podgorica from closing Chapter 31 (foreign, security and defense policy) at the end of last year.
When asked why the EC did not include xenophobic incidents against Turkish citizens in the report, while the attack on the prosecutor's office and Marković that occurred a few days earlier did, Pantelić replied that the "criticism" of Marković was inevitable because it exceeded the limit of what was desirable. On the other hand, he added that it should be known that reactions in the same or similar situations in EU member states, such as the one that occurred in the Podgorica settlement of Zabjelo on October 25 (when foreign citizens wounded a Podgorica resident), are regular.
"The attacks on Marković could not be left out because they crossed the line of public and desirable criticism of all state officials and officials. Criticism of prosecutors and the State Prosecutor's Office is one thing, and their delegitimization is quite another. What happened in Podgorica after the young man was wounded is completely condemnable. Since the state, media, civil society, political parties - some of them belatedly, admittedly - took the right stance and calmed the situation in a relatively short period of time, it was not necessary to include this case in the report," he pointed out.
According to Pantelić, Montenegro would have to introduce visas for Turkish citizens in any case, and has already had to introduce them.
"Let us recall that the EU turned a blind eye to Podgorica by allowing it to be late in introducing visas, harmonizing the visa regime with the EU," he added.
The government introduced visas for Turkish citizens after an incident in the Podgorica settlement of Zabjelo, in which a person was injured. MJ (25), for which the police initially suspected a Turkish and an Azerbaijani citizen. In the meantime, a twist occurred, and two Azerbaijanis are now suspects.
Marović: Concerned about the neglect of fascism
Former Minister of European Integration Jovana Marović, told "Vijesti" that Brussels was obviously trying to keep the report positive, in order to keep the door open and the possibility for Montenegro to close all negotiation chapters by the end of 2026.
"Even the wording (the way sentences are formed) was careful, so formulations such as 'serious cause for concern', which were previously regularly and frequently found in reports, are often missing," she says.
She said that, on the one hand, the goal is to leave room for optimism and continuity of the process, and that, on the other, there is a serious gap between rhetorical positivism and the overall atmosphere in which reforms are being implemented.
"... Which silences critical voices, and in the long run is harmful to democracy," Marović added.
The interviewee points out that she is particularly concerned that the "growing fascism" is not being addressed, which, she says, has been ignored for a long time, "although it is clear that it is encouraged by the parliamentary majority." She assesses that this probably indirectly justifies the often repeated thesis - that Montenegro has a European parliamentary majority, which, according to Marović, is simply not true.
"The European Commission did not even address the 'Turkey case' in its report, although that example is logical in the context of the collapse of democracy. However, they do not use that argument because the abolition of the visa-free regime (with that country) is part of EU conditionality," she pointed out.
Negotiations on Montenegro's accession to the EU began on 29 June 2012. Since then, Podgorica has opened all 33 chapters and temporarily closed seven (three at the end of last year and one in June this year). These are chapters 25 (science and research), 26 (education and culture), 30 (external relations), 7 (intellectual property law), 10 (information society and media), 20 (entrepreneurship and industrial policy) and 5 (public procurement).
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