Montenegro: new president - and more Europe?
Jakov Milatović (36) of the Europe Now movement has won the presidential election run-off in Montenegro. The incumbent Milo Djukanović had been in power — sometimes as president, sometimes as prime minister — for over 30 years and led the country to independence in 2006. Milatović won not least thanks to pro-Serbian votes. Commentators analyse the situation.
Leaning more towards Serbia
Those who assume that Milatović will bring the country more in line with the EU could be mistaken, warns the taz:
“Montenegro should align itself with Europe but also with Serbia, he declared during the campaign. The fact that he has adopted Serbia’s version of history and blames Croatia and Bosnia for the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s without mentioning the Serbian crimes in Vukovar, Dubrovnik and Srebrenica is part of this strategy. ... Let’s not forget, however, that election loser Djukanović won 40 percent of the vote. The outcome of the power struggle between the two camps has not yet been decided.”
Everything at stake here
Only after the parliamentary elections in June will it be clear where the country is heading, Jutarnji list believes:
“Milo Djukanović was beaten because he failed to secure a strong and accepted successor and didn’t do enough to bolster the sovereignist movement that could have opposed the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian faction. ... In this way he jeopardised everything he did for the country in restoring independence and strengthening Montenegro’s national and cultural identity. But parliamentary elections will take place in three months, and they will show whether after the changes at the top Montenegro will become just another ‘jewel’ in Vučić’s ‘Serbian world’ or drift towards new divisions that could even call its national survival into question.”
