Mediterranean Politics Turkey and the Balkans Serbia and Montenegro and Their New Union Srdjan Darmanovic istence of the Yugoslav state was the tory of Tito’s anti-fascist and liberation Director same one that had caused problems movement signified the restoration of Panorama: the Mediterranean Year Centre for Democracy at the very beginning of the state’s ex- the Montenegrin state, at least in the and Human Rights (CEDEM), istence, seventy-three years earlier, form of a communist quasi-federation. Montenegro when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was After the loss of its title during the pe- created from the ashes of the First riod between the two wars, Montene- World War. At the end of the war in gro constitutionally became complete- The two old Balkan states of Serbia 1918, although Montenegro had re- ly equal with the other five republics in 2003 and Montenegro decided in March mained on the side of the Ally forces Tito’s federal Yugoslavia. 2002 to bring the idea of a Yugoslav since the very beginning of the war, This was also the case when events Med. federation to an end (FR Yugoslavia, the nation’s status as a state was can- brought the historical turning point of which lasted from 1992 to 2002), and celled, with the consent of Britain and the break-up of Tito’s Yugoslavia at the to redesign their relations by creating France, and annexed by its war ally, beginning of the 1990s, and the «eter- a looser confederation. The new state Serbia.1 This converted Montenegro, nal» Montenegrin dilemma was again union was given the simple name of after long centuries of existence as an opened. As in all historical moments of Serbia and Montenegro. After a dec- independent state,2 into part of the change, the Montenegrin political elite ade of tragic wars in former Yugoslavia, new unitary Yugoslav state with no had to make up their minds whether 130-131 this period was the first time in the symbols of its own identity. they were going to follow the (pan) Balkans that an issue of status was re- The dilemma – independent state or Serbian nationalist movement led by solved relatively peacefully, through part of a unified (pan) Serbian state – Slobodan Milosevic, or, like other Yu- normal negotiations between the poli- has since then become an ongoing goslav republics, they were going to tical elites of two countries. problem in Montenegrin history. With strive for state independence. The po- When in 1991 the former Socialist every great new historical develop- litical leadership, which in the wave of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) ment, and disregarding other issues Milosevic’s populist movement took collapsed, and the age of war and that at times have dominated contem- over the rule of Montenegro in 1989, conflict over its territory began, Mon- porary events, this problem has re- decided, not without consideration tenegro was the only one of all the Yu- peatedly been brought to the surface and vacillation, to remain within the ex- goslav republics that decided not to of Montenegrin issues, with the need isting two-member federation with opt for state independence, but to re- to be reconsidered and eventually Serbia and within the regime domi- main within the joint state union with redefined. nated by Milosevic, an orientation that Serbia. The dilemma that Montenegro The situation was so when, in the con- was supported by the major part of the found itself facing at the end of the ex- text of the Second World War, the vic- population.3 The decision implied not 1 The annexation was carried out after the Montenegrin supporters of unconditional unification, helped by Serbian forces in Montenegrin territory, organised the dethroning of the last Montenegrin king Nikola I Petrovi-{Njego}, who was in exile after surrendering to Austrian troops in 1916. The act concerning the dethroning was adopted by the illegitimate organisation the Great Popular Assembly, which met at the end of November 1918 in Podgorica, and which on this occasion made the decision to unite Montenegro to the Kingdom of Serbia and then to integrate it in the newly formed state of Yugoslavia. 2 Centuries-old Montenegrin independence can be observed in the fact that it preserved its freedom through constant fighting with the Turks, while all other territories in the Balkans were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. The international recognition of Montenegro took place in 1878 at the Berlin Congress, when it was recognised as the twenty-seventh independent state in the world at that time. Serbia was also recognised as an independent state at the Berlin Congress. 3 In the referendum organised on this issue on 1st March 1992, when the war in former Yugoslavia had already started, sixty-two percent of the population turned up at the referendum to support the idea of a continued alliance with Serbia, while the supporters of the pro-independence op- position boycotted the voting. only that Montenegro remain within Mi- tenegro, connected with defence from of relations between Montenegro and losevic’s new Yugoslavia (FRY), but al- Milosevic’s regime. It is true that the Serbia, starting from completely new so, as a result of cooperation with its regime did help the pro-independence foundations, but so that the new union war policy, that it be included under option to gain a certain advantage in entailed one international subjectivity. the regime of UN sanctions, together only a few years during the period from After certain pressure on Montenegro, with Serbia, immediately after the for- 1999 to 2001, in a turn-around from the which was demonstrated in different mation of the state union. Several years predominantly federal orientation of pub- forms, the EU managed to come up later, one part of this same political lic opinion in the middle of the 19990s. with the signing of the Belgrade Agree- elite was to turn against Milosevic’s However, the essential and the struc- ment on the new Union of Serbia and policy, which gradually, but inevitably, tural question – whether a Montenegro Montenegro as a union of two semi- was to outline the way toward inde- that is seventeen times smaller than independent states. pendence. Finally, after Milosevic’s fall Serbia is really capable of being an The new State Union represents an on 5th October 2000, two democratic equal power in a two-member federa- unusual arrangement that is difficult to governments in Belgrade and Podgo- tion – represents a problem which has define. It does not constitute a federa- rica, along with the active support of not bee resolved along with the disap- tion, because in the joint parliament EU officials, opted for an at least tem- pearance of Milosevic, and which has there are no representatives of the citi- porary solution to this issue, in the cre- neither been solved automatically by zens, only of the two member-states. A ation of a non-typical state union. the two democratic governments in kind of Union government – the six- Thus the Montenegrin statehood issue Belgrade and Podgorica. member Council of Ministers – has during the twentieth century has been After Milosevic was toppled from pow- been composed, based on the principle swinging like a pendulum first in one er, the Montenegrin government tried of parity, so that it includes three rep- direction and then in the other, from to solve this problem by offering its resentatives from each of the member- the dissolving of the state in 1918 to consent to the dissolution of the FR states, and in which one of the Monte- its restoration within the communist fed- Yugoslavia according to the Czecho- negrin representatives is currently eration in 1945, and from the repeated slovakian model, with the difference that President of the Union. This «govern- submission to Serbian nationalism in the two new independent and interna- ment authority» does not possess any the era of the collapse of former Yu- tionally recognised states of Monte- real power or control in the territory of goslavia between 1990 and 1992 to negro and Serbia would sign a docu- Serbia and Montenegro, as the power the factual state independence in the ment of an association which would and control is in the hands of each of loose (con)federation with Serbia, es- resemble, in the capacities included, the two member-states, and the gov- tablished in the Belgrade Agreement. the Commonwealth of Independent ernments of either of the two republics With the fall of Milosevic, the threat to States (CIS) that was formed after the have far greater political strength than Montenegrin security was removed. collapse of the Soviet Union, or even the Union «government». International However, the regularity with which the the organisation of the EU. The pro- representation is the primary function «eternal» statehood issue keeps return- posal of association was received with of the Council of Ministers, as one of ing to the forefront of the scene in all- certain surprise and disapproval by the the EU’s requirements was a single turning situations, has yet again proved main partners and protectors of Mon- «international address» for Serbia and itself inescapable. During Milosevic’s tenegro from the Milosevic period – Montenegro, as well as the promotion regime, on way in which Montenegro the USA and the EU, and even in Bel- of certain coordinative functions be- defended itself was by the continual grade, to where it was directed, it has tween the two member-states of the increase of its powers of sovereignty, not received the expected support. Fol- Union. That Serbia and Montenegro do converting the situation function by lowing the failure of this proposal, not represent a federation can also function from a federal to a republic.