Good morning! Dritan has made another boy’s dream come true; Vucic threatened Kosovo with war during Abazovic’s homage; NATO adopted a new strategic concept in which the Western Balkans was emphasized as a zone of friction; today a protest against the agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church is to be held.
Dritan in Belgrade
The Prime Minister was a guest in Belgrade and he made another boy’s dream come true – to be accompanied by 25 vehicles, as he boasted on Instagram, to roar through Belgrade. Belgrade is decorated with the flags of Serbia and Montenegro, and on the Belgrade tower, the flag of Serbia is displayed above the flag of Montenegro. The main success of the visit, according to the Prime Minister, is that we are reconciling with the “brotherly state” and that we will no longer be harassed at the border. We will also receive food from Serbia, and in return we will give them the use of hydro potential through joint projects. Who would say that someone who was in the campaign against small hydropower plants and supported every environmental protest, is currently, through cooperation with Serbia, for now shyly, promoting large hydropower projects.
The Open Balkans was not mentioned so much, but guessing at the rhetoric of Vucic and Vulin, and the new tensions that are announced for Kosovo in the autumn, there will be none of that. Serbia is in a great crisis, apart from the fact that surveys show that most people are against EU membership, new polls also show the great popularity of Putin, Russia and China in this country. Having in mind the conclusions from the NATO Summit, and the new strategic concept in which Russia is seen as a direct threat, and the Western Balkans is taken as one of the potential zones of friction, I am not sure how much cooperation and integration with such Serbia is possible.
Abazovic’s visit to Serbia has shown everything that is wrong in the relations between the two countries. Serbia continues to cultivate a paternalistic attitude towards us and tries to dominate the relations. The pressure on Abazovic to bring to Belgrade the “agreed” text of the agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church at the cost of rising tensions at home, shows what kind of leadership they want in Montenegro. In addition, on the day of the visit of the ethnic Albanian Montenegrin prime minister, Serbia is threatening Kosovo with war.
There are no answers to all the most important questions that were discussed in the previous days. Serbia continues to insist that Vladimir Bozovic return as ambassador to Montenegro. Serbia continues to ignore the request for Marovic’s extradition.
Although tensions in society have risen, and have been brought to the brink of boiling again after six months of calm resulting from the negotiations and the formation of a minority government, a telephone cabinet meeting was held yesterday to continue appointing staff at management positions, which means that this thing relating to Abazovic and the Fundamental Agreement, is perhaps only a maneuver that will become clearer to us after his return to Montenegro, probably. Either that is the point, or this government will fall. There is no third option.
What the whole crisis over the Agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church shows is that the priorities of parts of the government are not Montenegro’s entry into the EU, but intrigue and positioning before the new elections. As some of the civil sector leaders pointed out on Twitter the other day, this government has been formed to speed up our path to the EU. If it does not deal with it, then there is no reason for it to exist anymore. The way out of the crisis is to call elections. The only question is whether these elections would change anything.
That’s it for today. We wish you a pleasant rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst
