In Montenegro, not enough is said about European values and the mental and cultural readiness of society to accept them, believes Nikoleta Đukanović, a professor at the University of Donja Gorica, while historian Adnan Prekić points out that European integration has not been used for transformation, but only for the transition of society.
In a podcast by the MINA agency about the sociological and cultural readiness of Montenegrin society for membership in the European Union (EU), Đukanović said that there is a lot of talk in Montenegro about the integration process as both political and technical.
"Very little is communicated to citizens about what the EU is, or what awaits us when we join, what our rights are, what our obligations are," said Đukanović.
She pointed out that the segment that is most neglected is how close European values are to Montenegrin society.
"And how mentally and culturally we are ready to be Europeans, no matter how much it is more of a mental construct than a real category when we talk about European identity," said Đukanović.
As she said, the question arises as to whether Montenegro has experienced a transformation of society, while meeting the standards of the EU legal and institutional acquis.
"I think this is something that is greatly neglected and problematic," Đukanović pointed out, emphasizing that serious sociological and political science research needs to be conducted to show this.
She stated that it is interesting that a significant number of citizens support the EU, around 70 percent, but that certain questions from the survey actually show how far Montenegrin society is from the core European values.
"When citizens, especially young people, explain why they support the country's integration into the EU, they will say it is solely because of the economic benefits that the Union should bring to individuals," said Đukanović.
As she stated, the political-legal aspect is completely ignored in the sense that the EU should actually guarantee the rule of law, the rule of law, and democracy.
Đukanović pointed out that this is not only a characteristic of the population in Montenegro, but in all countries of the Western Balkans.
Asked to what extent Montenegrin society in the past demonstrated the ability to adapt to some major value and civilizational changes, Prekić said that in the previous period there were no such processes.
"We entered the EU process precisely for the reason of changing the essence of society. However, unfortunately, instead of the European integration process being a path on which we will transform the entire society, we have experienced the entire process as a goal and are only thinking about what will happen in the end," said Prekić.
He said that in Montenegro, instead of a transformative path, there is a transitional path.
"Just one transition, from one process to another. I think that the responsibility lies primarily with us, with the political elites who are much closer to populism and the conquest of power than to the transformation of society," said Prekić.
He believes that part of the blame for this lies with European partners.
Speaking about Montenegro's pro-Western orientation, Prekić said that such an orientation of the state throughout history is an incident, not a rule.
He pointed out that in Montenegro, the European path is discussed in such a way that it is about economic prosperity and that the economic basis offered by the EU is the ultimate goal, not the value part.
"I think that this type of introspection of Montenegrin society is much more important and that we should ask the question why we did not use the European integration process to transform society, but only to transition from a post-socialist one to an allegedly modern, liberal, open society that is only like that on paper," said Prekić.
Asked to what extent identity divisions slow down or complicate the process of accepting European values, he replied that identity divisions are not inherent only to Montenegrin society, but that, unfortunately, political elites in Montenegro are trying to homogenize the electorate by causing such divisions.
"Look at what's happening in America, Germany, France, you always have some conservatives, some liberal currents, different structures, and that kind of division in society is not only not bad, but I think it's even good, because it speaks of pluralism, but the essence is how you as a society and as a community can deal with it," Prekić added.
He pointed out that in Montenegro, this part has been turned into a kind of political platform and that these alleged divisions are used to homogenize the electorate.
Prekić said that in this context there is also the attitude towards historical revisionism, because the political elites understood very well the need of Montenegrin society to be loyal to the past.
"The process of historical revisionism is solely in the function of political homogenization, creating a platform for contemporary political action, and not at all confronting the past and some things that were in the past," Prekić assessed.
When asked which European values Montenegrin society finds most difficult to accept, Đukanović said that it is easier to answer which values it accepts.
"I think they are all very debatable from the point of view of both political elites and citizens. When we talk about the basis of these values - freedom, dignity, equality, tolerance, non-discrimination and the aspiration of states to live in a pluralism with respect for all individuals, then it is difficult for me to single out what is the most problematic," said Đukanović.
She stated that, in a formal-legal sense, the rule of law can be most problematic, because Montenegro still does not have institutions that are depoliticized and independent of politics, adding that examples of this are the Constitutional Court, the politicized judiciary and other institutions that are not strong enough to resist the influence of politicians and parties.
"I think the rule of law is perhaps one of the most contentious points and I'm sure the EU is aware of that, however much it is considered a technical process that can be improved, but with these political elites I don't believe in that," Đukanović added.
As she said, there is not a single political party in the Montenegrin parliament that has not had power at some point, either before or now, which means that they have all had the opportunity to demonstrate their pro-European capacity, their desire to democratize society, and improve the living conditions of citizens, but their impact, according to Đukanović, is minor.
"It's not that it doesn't exist, but it's so minimal that we're simply talking about some very small steps in the democratization process," said Đukanović.
She pointed out that, from the perspective of citizens and politicians, the most controversial issues are tolerance and non-discrimination.
"I think few citizens are aware that we are all different, but that we must be equal, that we all have our own needs and human rights that we must respect, and that we have the right to our freedom as long as we do not endanger the freedom of others," said Đukanović.
She believes that the post-socialist legacy has an extremely large influence on this, but not the only one.
"Today, after so many decades of half-successful transition and so many decades of consolidation, we are talking about a Montenegrin society in which the majority of citizens have trust in the church and the army, and less trust in the school education system, healthcare, the judiciary or some other institutions," said Đukanović.
As she stated, it is the subservient political culture that is characteristic of the Montenegrin political entity, and another problem is the leadership that society strives towards.
Đukanović pointed out that all of this can be improved, but that the negatives are only deepening because political elites prefer to abuse sources of power rather than change the situation.
She assessed that in the coming period, the focus will be mostly on those events planned for 2027, in the context of the elections and the technical closure of chapters in negotiations with the EU.
"I'm not sure how much we will actually use that period for real reforms and for good diplomatic activities in terms of lobbying, support, especially those states that may be politically inclined in this process, but not unconditionally," said Đukanović.
She emphasized that the degrading narratives and right-wing policies that exist everywhere in the world, and even in the EU itself, are discouraging, where the Union has shown that it does not have adequate mechanisms to respond to them or combat their harm.
Djukanovic said she is not sure how promising it is that citizens who saw salvation in the Union think that it will be more amortized and controlled once Montenegro becomes an EU member.
"The big question is whether the EU will manage to replace it in this way, although even twenty years ago there were very interesting opinions from prominent professors who believed that the Western Balkans should be integrated even then, unprepared, but better that way than leaving them to manage the processes themselves, which turned out to be a very unsuccessful and long-lasting process," said Đukanović.
According to her, the EU today is not the same as it was twenty years ago and she is not sure that this process will continue and be more promising.
"So I'm not sure how much such a membership will be able to somehow amortize or replace what are our internal, major, structural shortcomings," said Đukanović.
She emphasized that the EU itself is aware of this problem.
"I think that the initiative that talks about a potential two-phase membership without voting rights at the beginning, as much as it is now an open question whether this really applies to Montenegro or not, it seems to me that it does, but it may or may not, actually shows how cautious the Union itself is about all these shortcomings," Đukanović added.
She believes that the EU is aware of how vulnerable countries in the region are to influences, especially Russia.
Asked whether there was a period in history when Montenegro was more oriented towards Europe than today, Prekić replied that the country is currently closest to Europe.
As he said, throughout history this area was part of the Eastern Roman Empire, followed by the establishment of Ottoman rule, and later the entire Montenegrin liberation movement against the Ottoman Empire was founded exclusively with the foreign policy support of Russia.
"Every attempt to find another foreign policy partner has been bloodily stifled," Prekić said.
He emphasized that the windows in which Montenegro's pro-Western orientation was fully evident were very modest.
Prekić stated that additional problems are that Europe is not the same as when Montenegro began its European path in 2008, as well as the very pronounced and immanent right-wing potential in Montenegro.
"You can recognize it when you look at these polls where people say that they are in principle for the EU, over two-thirds. However, when you look at the values of people's attitude towards the fundamental values of the EU, you see that this support is much, much smaller," said Prekić.
He explained that this right-wing potential is not inherent to just one religious or national community, but to all religious and national communities in Montenegro.
"The good news is that this right-wing narrative and conservative, traditional currents do not have any sustainable answer to any contemporary challenge facing Montenegro in the 21st century, and I think we are now in a process where we need to define how much damage these policies will cause," said Prekić.
Asked to what extent the attitude towards European values is rooted in the historical heritage of Montenegro and whether there has been any such thing in Montenegrin history, Prekić answered in the negative.
"People here are used to patriarchal models of behavior, authoritarian rule, and people always look for shortcuts, never institutions, and it is always much easier to have a godfather, friend, relative, and you can see that through these processes of partitocracy," Prekić added.
When asked how ready Montenegrin citizens are to accept changes in behavioral patterns in the process of accepting European values, Đukanović said that this is a long-term process that implies the emergence of new generations that think and behave differently.
"I'm not sure that we have new generations that are significantly different from the previous ones," added Đukanović.
As she said, a significant problem is that young people, although they have greater opportunities to travel and learn, have not accepted what is implied by the democratic principles of the functioning of society and the state.
"The latest research published by some youth organizations actually shows that young people are increasingly conservative, more closed-minded, that they are increasingly drawn to the right-wing positions they represent in Montenegro and abroad, and that the ethnic and social distance between them is increasingly pronounced," Đukanović stated.
Prekić, answering the same question, said that young people only accept the patterns they see in society.
"We mentioned how Constitutional Court judges are elected, how ministers are elected, and those are all examples, it is the politics of continuity and a young man who watches that, it is completely clear to him that the point is not for him to be the best, for him to be the most qualified, to show the best results, because that will mean nothing to him," Prekić said.
He warned that the problem is that, for the first time in 200 years, there are generations in Montenegro that are less educated than their parents.
Asked how much Montenegrin society will be transformed and more advanced after EU membership, Prekić said that, although it appears so in the geopolitical context, he is not sure that the membership that is being talked about is completely certain.
"On the other hand, with all these problems, all the limitations, I think we have much more chances as part of the EU than to remain outside the Union. The bottom line is that it is better to enter the EU, whatever it is, than to remain outside," said Prekić.
Djukanovic said that the only hope left is that, when Montenegro joins the EU, things will get better.
She agrees that it is better to join the Union anyway than to remain trapped "with these political elites, legacy, and with this rhetoric and abuse of politics."
"I regret that this negotiation process, or rather integration, has not been used to improve society. We always draw some lines in terms of some minimum criteria, and they most often come down to adopting good laws and strategies without their implementation," concluded Đukanović.
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