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Omer Karabeg: What will be the influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its metropolitan Amfilohije Radović on the new Montenegrin government?
Zlatko Vujovic: The influence of the Serbian Orthodox Church will be crucial. The church believes that it won the elections and that it should give it a president, in this case it is Mr. Krivokapić. It will practically control the government. It will also have its demands: first, the introduction of religious education in schools. The Serbian Orthodox Church is launching an initiative to restore the chapel built by King Alexander on top of Lovćen in honor of the birth of his son Peter II on the site where the Njegoš chapel was partially destroyed, and later a mausoleum was built. identity element.
Sonja Biserko: The Serbian Orthodox Church was and continues to be the main promoter and exponent of the project of the Serbian great power. It should be noted that Serbia has not abandoned the program promoted by Slobodan Milosevic. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the main institution to implement these strategies because it is the only legitimate cross-border institution …
Karabeg: Will Montenegro keep its pro-western course?
Vujovic: I deeply believe that Dritan Abazović deeply believes that this is possible and that he will do it. I also believe that his breakup United Reform Action (URA) has an extremely large number of professionals and activists who are honest and want a change and a way out of numerous corruption scandals. However, one is wishes and the other is actual politics. It is unrealistic to expect that a political party, which has only 5 percent of the support, could be a strong corrective factor in the policies of other coalition partners who have almost nothing in common with it … I do not think that the Abazovic’s coalition partners quit their programs. I think they will initially respect the coalition agreement, but it will be short-lived, as long as it is necessary for the Democratic Front and the Serbian church structures to come to power and take control.
Biserko: Due to the circumstances, Abazović was assigned a historical role in determining the future direction of Montenegro. The question is whether Montenegro will continue on the path of European integration or will it return to the embrace of Serbia. Last week’s meeting at the Independence Square in Podgorica showed that Montenegro will not easily accept returning to the embrace of Serbia. All of this puts Abazović in great temptation. The people around United Reform Action, who are genuinely interested in an independent Montenegro, focus at the moment mainly on corruption, which is legitimate. However, it seems to me that there is a psychological trap here. The attitude towards the DPS and Djukanovic must be distinguished from the attitude towards the achievements that have been made over the past 30 years. Now they are behaving as if the return of independence, the accession to NATO and the arrival at the gates of the EU were not due to the DPS, that is, especially to Djukanovic. Rhetoric prevails, which, among other things, boils down to overthrowing the last communist dictator, which is not true at all. He is neither a communist nor a dictator, since Djukanovic had democratic legitimacy. Therefore, you cannot rule everything out.
Karabeg: The winning coalition said the new government would not initiate procedures to withdraw recognition of Kosovo. Do you think he will remain firm in that attitude?
Vujovic: I think it is more than clear that the entities that advocated for the withdrawal of recognition of Kosovo will continue to defend it. They did not renounce that policy. They only said that they are willing not to open the issue for a while, which means that they will open it the moment they are sure that the government, in which the Democratic Front will have a majority, will survive such a decision. In that case, would Abazovic overthrow the government? Maybe he’ll stick with it until the end. But you know how, when you walk into some structures, you also make concessions.
Biserko: They will temporarily postpone the issue of the NATO pact, Kosovo and everything they defended in the election campaign. It will focus on consolidating the government and consolidating power.
Karabeg: What will be the relations of the new government with Belgrade?
Vujovic: I think they will be the same as the aforementioned Mr. Medojevic said that Montenegro should not make any move that is not in line with the interests of Serbia. That is more than clear. As I believe that Mr. Vučić controls the SOC, I believe that the SOC will control the new government. Therefore, it is logical to conclude that official Belgrade will control the Montenegrin government.
Biserko: Serbia played a decisive role in the Montenegrin elections, both financially and logistically. And the Serbian Orthodox Church played a key role, as through it the interests of Serbia and Russia were realized. However, Montenegro will not give up so easily. Do not forget that with the signing of the agreement in Washington, Vučić experienced something of a fiasco for the performance that everyone saw and laughed at. He also experienced it because of the first conflict with Moscow. All this somehow changes the position of Vučić and Serbia and they become less relevant… And perhaps this is the end of Serbia as we have known it for the last 30 years.
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