Georgia has given up on the EU. Is Montenegro next

By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist

Protests have erupted in Georgia. The government decided to suspend accession talks with the European Union although Georgia has them defined by the constitution. Citizens went out to demonstrate. Their prime minister says he won’t allow revolution.

We have already pointed out to the similarities between the Georgian and Montenegrin case, here – on CdM: https://www.cdm.me/kolumne/moze-li-crna-gora-postati-mala-gruzija-da-jer-mandic-je-tempirana-bomba-na-putu-ka-eu/

Russia sees Georgia as part of the Russian world. Serbia sees Montenegro as part of the Serbian world. In both countries, an entire political bloc made up of parties, media, NGOs, parts of state/cultural institutions and, of course, the church, is working on the integration of Georgia and Montenegro not in the EU – but in two so-called ethnic worlds, two meta-countries.

Until yesterday, both Montenegro and Georgia were on the so-called “EU path”. Georgia’s out.

The Georgian case is particularly interesting and alarming from the Montenegrin perspective as it reveals the shortcomings of the report on “strong support of citizens for EU integration”. As a matter of fact, it indicates a crack; no, a hole; no, the abyss in that story. The abyss into which “Georgia’s path to the EU” is now sinking.

Let’s reiterate: according to a survey carried out by NDI last year, as many as 79% of Georgia citizens wanted to join the EU. NDI published the results of the survey on 11 December 2023 under a triumphant headline full of European optimism: “Georgia’s citizens remain committed to EU membership; a nation united in a dream and sharing challenges”. https://www.ndi.org/publications/ndi-poll-georgian-citizens-remain-committed-eu-membership-nation-united-its-dreams-and.

So the question is: why did citizens of Georgia, if 79 percent of them were in favor of EU integration, vote for pro-Russian forces in the elections, which they knew would stop those integrations?

To simplify and cut a long story short, according to the rule that someone who can’t explain something to you in two sentences, doesn’t even understand what he wants to explain to you.

So. Because the citizens of Georgia, just like the citizens of Montenegro, want European money, but not European values.

So, they would like to receive European wages and go to the West with no passport to work there, go out in “our” pubs, eat “our” food and listen to “our” music, to send part of their money home and save a part of it so that they could build a house in their village and park the BMW 7 series in front of that house. For the sake of a higher salary, they’re ready to endure human rights and democracy in the country where they work – but they have nothing against autocracy and terror against the minority nations in their homeland. It never occurs to them that a woman can marry a guy of different nationality and religion – except for papers. They don’t even think about hanging out with gays. They will never go to a gay wedding. Thank God that won’t happen soon, because Trump will take care of it, like he did for everything else.

Therefore, the citizens of Georgia and Montenegro understand the question “do you want to join the EU” as “do you want more money”. The answer is, of course, yes.

The “Georgia Case” shows all the hollowness of staged research and false optimism. In order for the “Case of Montenegro” not to show the same, at least two things are needed. The first, to limit or, preferably, reduce the influence of Andrija Mandić, i.e. Aleksandar Vučić, i.e. Vladimir Putin in Montenegro. And secondly: that someone in this government understands that EU integration is not just a technical matter of passing laws. It’s a value issue. With the retrograde, ultra-conservative values ​​that are dominant in Montenegro, we will pass EU laws in vain. The policy of indifference to values ​​and not targeting the ultra-conservative part of voters is not leading Montenegro towards, but further away from the European Union.

Of course, if in the meantime the EU itself does not become a community cherishing Putin’s values, which a significant number of Europeans are obviously in favor of.

(The opinions and views of our columnists aren’t necessarily those of the CdM news team)