By Andrej Nikolaidis, CdM columnist
Serbia ranks 51 places behind Montenegro on the Corruption Perceptions Index. The fight against corruption is a key benchmark for EU accession. This means Serbia has no real intention of joining the EU. That is just one of the reasons why joint EU integration of Montenegro and Serbia is impossible. A call for joint accession is, in fact, a call not to join the EU at all.
Montenegro is officially the least corrupt country in the Western Balkans. This follows from the Corruption Perceptions Index, which policymakers rely on as a credible measurement tool. Here: https://www.cdm.me/politika/najbolja-na-zapadnom-balkanu-crna-gora-na-65-mjestu-po-indeksu-percepcije-korupcije/
As with the half-full or half-empty glass, different—often opposing—perspectives are possible. But context determines meaning. Our context is the Western Balkans and the EU integration process. It makes no sense to compare corruption levels in Montenegro with those in Luxembourg. Being the best in the Western Balkans is precisely where Montenegro needs to be if it intends to become the first country in the region to join the European Union.
The index also tells us something else: Montenegro is nowhere near as corrupt as some—say, from Belgrade, such as Ana Brnabic or Aleksandar Vucic—would like to portray it. For years, even decades, we have heard about “endemic corruption” and a criminal Montenegro. Just as alleged corruption is now used as an argument that “Montenegro is not ready for EU membership,” the same supposed argument was once used as “proof” that the country was not ready for independence.
Belgrade has constructed a media image of Montenegro as a hub of corruption that even spills over and threatens poor Serbia.
Yet Serbia ranks 51 places behind Montenegro on this year’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
If nothing else, that fact alone shows that the recent coordinated effort by Serbia’s state leadership—first with Vucic demanding joint EU accession for Montenegro and Serbia, and then Brnabic elaborating on why Montenegro is “not ready”—was misguided and futile.
We cannot enter the EU together because, in this respect, Montenegro is Switzerland compared to Serbia. Montenegro is steadily closing chapters, while Serbia is not even opening them. A vast majority of Montenegro’s citizens want EU membership, while a similar majority in Serbia does not.
As sports fans would say: Look at the scoreboard.
Everything else undermines common sense and is a game rooted in irrationality, envy, and barely concealed hostility.
Take Milan Knezevic as an example. He is fervent in fighting corruption in Montenegro, yet blind to corruption in Serbia, in whose interest he advocates joint (non-)accession to the EU. The irony is obvious. If Knezevic truly wishes Serbia well—and there is no reason to assume otherwise—the best thing he could do would be to share Montenegro’s experience in what has indeed been a successful anti-corruption fight with his partners in Belgrade. As someone from a country that will enter the EU at least a decade before Serbia, he could, if not formally then at least in an advisory role, help lead the anti-corruption effort in Serbia, which clearly lacks the capacity to resolve its accumulated problems without assistance.
(Columnists’ opinions and views do not necessarily reflect those of the CdM editorial board)
