“If NATO and the EU do not react promptly to the daily personnel strikes, they will sponsor a dangerous development of the situation that will divide Montenegro into several spheres of interest and thus destabilize the region,” Biserko said.
“Serbia will interfere as long as it considers that there is room for action. Belgrade estimates that the international context is still in favor of realizing its aspirations,” said Sonja Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee in Serbia and a big fan of Milo Djukanovic’s legacy in Montenegro.
Answering the question why Serbia is continuously interfering in the internal issue of Montenegro and what it has gained, Biserko points out that the EU and the USA did not react even when Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church interfered in the republican elections.
“Their main criterion is the dismissal of the government without investigating who replaces that government and what values they will represent. The agreement, which the winning coalition signed under pressure from the EU and the US on not changing Montenegro’s orientation, is increasingly relative from today’s perspective,” she said, adding:
“Depth shifts are fundamentally changing the blood picture of Montenegro, all under the slogan it works towards the end of the last ‘communist dictator.’ That phrase is not only incorrect, but it is just a cover for ongoing engineering. It is engineering that annuls all the achievements of Montenegro in the direction of Euro-Atlantic integration. “If NATO and the EU do not promptly react to the daily personnel strikes, they will sponsor a dangerous development of the situation, which will divide Montenegro into several spheres of interest and thus destabilize the region,” she says.
Of course, the inevitable topic of almost all Pobjeda’s interlocutors is the “Serbian world”. Biserko attempts to criminalize the fact that Andrija Mandić and Milorad Dodik are present at all state events organized in Belgrade.
“Belgrade believes that it is in a superior position and that is why it does not respect the decisions of Montenegro. National strategists believe that Serbia has strengthened its international position and that it has room to act towards all its neighbors,” explains Pobjeda’s interviewee.
She reminds that Serbia is continuously strengthening its military force and that a debate is being prepared to introduce compulsory military service. At the same time, Serbian media smartly offers a hand of reconciliation by spinning the thesis about the two closest nations and that it is only a matter of time before Montenegro returns to “normal”, under the wing of Serbia.
“The fact is that the Democratic Party of Socialists, which still is the party with the greatest support, is being belittled, while the Serbian media are systematically demonizing its president.” The recent Democratic Party of Socialists Congress and the president’s speech are described as “convulsive and shamelessly power-hungry” and “Milo’s anti-Serbian delirium.” In his so-called “collapse and defeat, which has been Belgrade’s first-class goal for 20 years, Belgrade sees its power,” Biserko emphasized.
Biserko stresses that Serbia also insists on adopting the new law of dual citizenship. As analysts such as Antic, Kovic, Djurkovic and others argue, the new law would open the door to Serbian citizens of Montenegrin descent to influence the next census, thus changing the demographic picture of Montenegro.
“At the same time, the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church on the Government and the events in Montenegro can objectively influence the character of the Montenegrin state and bring it closer to that of the Republic Srpska.” That would have a reciprocal effect on Serbia, where one part of the opposition advocates litigation like those in Montenegro. “All this leads to radicalization and abandonment of democratization and Europeanization,” she concluded.
