Montenegro’s decision, after 17 years, to withdraw from the race for a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council is not surprising, given the fact that our state policy is burdened by the influence of the former Democratic Front, and that foreign affairs are managed by two Deputy Prime Ministers, of whom Ervin Ibrahimovic is the formal minister, and Filip Ivanovic the essential minister, according to diplomat Zeljko Perovic.
Yesterday, it was impossible to get official confirmation of that information from the Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs, but Pobjeda’s unofficial information indicates that it is correct.
Perovic, in a statement for Pobjeda, explains that the UN Security Council is the most important and prestigious body among all international organizations and that not everyone can be a member of that Council. According to Perovic, the fact that more than a third of the countries in the world, about 190 of them, have never been members of the Security Council speaks in support of this.
He also explains that to support membership in the Security Council, it is necessary to make a huge effort, and that Montenegro has shown “a serious amount of frivolity” in this sense.
“I was sceptical from the very beginning because I thought that we didn’t have enough people and that we didn’t plan it all well enough. Montenegro made several mistakes, one of which was when we promised to support one UN member, and then gave support to another country”, he concludes.
Perovic emphasizes the importance and prestige of being a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. He highlights Croatia’s strategic approach when it ran for candidacy, hiring former Yugoslav Foreign Minister Budimir Loncar as a special envoy to secure votes through his extensive diplomatic connections. Perovic also points to Slovenia’s repeated election as a non-permanent member, noting that in addition to its ambassador at the UN, Slovenia appointed a second ambassador in New York specifically to handle Security Council-related matters. This illustrates the significant effort and importance countries place on securing membership.
