The story about the status of the Serbian language and dual citizenship for the parties of the former Democratic Front (DF) serves to mobilize the electorate, and thus represents the beginning of the campaign for the 2027 elections.
This was told to "Vijesti" by the editor-in-chief of the weekly "Monitor". Milena Perović, commenting on the announcement by the Presidency of the Democratic People's Party (DNP) that it will "intensify activities" to resolve the status of the Serbian language and dual citizenship through amendments to the Citizenship Law.
"Just as the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) did before, now the parties of the former DF are surviving and strengthening their positions on issues of division," said Perović.
The DNP presidency announced on Monday that it had unanimously adopted a conclusion at its session to intensify the activities of all party officials to resolve the issues of the status of the Serbian language and dual citizenship. They said that the publicly announced positions of the DNP vice president and the government were "particularly emphasized." Milun Zogović and deputies Jelena Kljajević i Dragan Bojović that “it is necessary to begin a national dialogue on these issues in the first quarter of next year”.
"Constitutional amendments are not an attack on the state; on the contrary, they represent a necessity that leads to the stabilization of socio-political conditions in order to meet the European challenges that await us. The DNP Presidency also believes that constitutional amendments should first be proposed and adopted by the Government so that the institutional level of such a decision guarantees a vote in the Parliament," they stated.
They said that it is time for all key political actors to move from "principled and verbal readiness" to demonstrating concreteness, responsibility and readiness to "contribute to stopping further discrimination against the linguistic majority."
This decision comes seven days after the statement by the head of parliament. Andrije Mandić (New Serbian Democracy) that the current highest legal act of the country, adopted almost two decades ago, does not fully reflect the actual state of society, and that a large number of provisions of that regulation are "ripe for harmonization with the modern state", adding that the status of the Serbian language should also be "harmonized".
Nationalism and divisions are profitable
Perović said that the story about the status of the Serbian language and dual citizenship primarily serves a part of the current government to mobilize its own voters, and that, therefore, it is a kind of campaign in the run-up to the 2027 elections.
She assessed that stories of identity and division are, at the same time, "eternal themes" of the political structure gathered around the former DF, thanks to which, she claims, they have survived politically all this time and established their political positions.
"Unfortunately, nationalism and division are being politically profited from. Just as the previous government survived and lived on identity issues and divisions for so long, these stories still serve the same purpose today. To live and strengthen politically," the interviewee stated.
Part of the ruling majority, led by the leader of the DNP Milan Knežević and Mandić, has been demanding a change to the highest legal act for the last few years to give the Serbian language official status. In part of the majority, at the end of last year, the idea of making the Bosnian language an official language was also heard. According to the Constitution, Serbian and Bosnian (along with Albanian and Croatian) are in official use, while Montenegrin is the official language.
"While Knežević openly obstructs the European process, as we see in the Botun case, Mandić does it more skillfully. The Speaker of the Parliament visits European capitals, talks about the diplomatic activities he is allegedly working on to make the country the next EU member, while at the same time keeping the focus on divisive topics, which not only distract from European tasks, but are also anti-European in terms of values," said Perović.
Due to the complicated procedure for amending the Constitution in the language section (two-thirds support in parliament and at least three-fifths of all voters in a referendum are required), which makes it practically impossible, the DNP and New Serbian Democracy (NSD) advocated legally questionable ideas for the realization of their request, such as organizing a constitutional assembly and "adding" a new article to the highest legal act.
The DNP did not respond to questions from "Vijesti" about whether they expect to have the support of the parliamentary majority for amending the Constitution to make the Serbian language official, and whether they are actually mobilizing the electorate and thus beginning preparations for the campaign ahead of the 2027 elections.
Perović: What does DNP live on?
Perović stated that the DNP's political platform has nothing else to base itself on, except for identity issues and divisions, asking the question: "What else does this party live off politically?".
"Since Knežević's visit (to the President of Serbia) Alexander) Vucic "for glory, the story of Vučić's superpowers and other activities of Vučić's ingenious idea to have the region enter the European Union (EU) as soon as possible, or never," she said.
She emphasized that a particular problem is that part of the new government declaratively advocates for EU entry, while at the same time persistently insisting on topics that distract the country from that proclaimed goal.
"There are, however, nuances here. While Knežević openly obstructs the European process, as we see in the Botun case, Mandić does it more skillfully. The Speaker of the Parliament visits European capitals, talks about the diplomatic activities he is allegedly working on to make the country the next EU member, while at the same time keeping the focus on divisive topics non-stop, which not only distract from European tasks, but are also anti-European in terms of values," Perović underlined.
Although the DNP, when forming the government, Milojko Spajić (Europe Now Movement) signed a power agreement at the end of October 2023, which states that its constituents will refrain "from all topics that may renew or deepen divisions, with the aim of building a united future for all citizens of Montenegro", Knežević has repeatedly spoken about the idea of the Serbian language as an official language.
This intensified ahead of the population census in December 2023, and after the publication of the results of that process in mid-October 2024. At the end of 2023, he stated that after the publication of the census results, the DNP would insist on an "amendment" to the Constitution, which would equalize the Serbian language with Montenegrin.
In an interview with the daily newspaper "Pobjeda" in August last year, Knežević said that any changes to the Constitution should be "subject to agreement by the parliamentary majority", and that no one should be concerned that "they will change the civic character of the state".
He then said that if the census results show that the Serbian language is the majority language in Montenegro, amendments should be made to the Constitution, not changes, so that, in addition to Montenegrin, the Serbian language will also be standardized as an official language.
"Anyone who disputes this legitimate initiative is in fact advocating linguistic apartheid. It is our duty to provide institutional resistance to any attempt at forced national and identity assimilation," Knežević said on that occasion.
According to data from the population census conducted in December 2023, the majority of Montenegrins speak Serbian - 43,18 percent (269.307 citizens), followed by Montenegrin 34,52 percent (215.299), and Bosnian 6,97 percent (43.470).
Albanian is spoken by 5,25 percent of the population (32.725), Russian by 2,36 percent (14.731), and Serbo-Croatian by 2,08 percent (12.999). 1,71 percent of the population (10.691) did not want to state which language they spoke.
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