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Montenegro’s Prime Minister Resigns, Perhaps Bolstering Country’s E.U. Hopes
Montenegro’s Prime Minister Resigns, Perhaps Bolstering Country’s E.U. Hopes
(about 4 hours later)
BELGRADE, Serbia — Montenegro’s prime minister stepped down on Wednesday, a transition expected to improve his country’s chances of European Union membership.
BELGRADE, Serbia — Montenegro’s prime minister stepped down on Wednesday, a transition expected to improve his country’s chances of European Union membership.
The prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, had led the country for most of the past quarter-century and managed its peaceful separation from Serbia in 2006. He has been accused of enabling corruption and organized crime, and his departure from the premiership may facilitate Montenegro’s application to join the bloc.
The prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, had led the country for most of the past quarter-century and managed its peaceful separation from Serbia in 2006. He has been accused of enabling corruption and organized crime, and his departure from the premiership may facilitate Montenegro’s application to join the bloc.
His party — the Democratic Party of Socialists, a direct descendant of the Communists who ruled the country from the end of World War II to the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991 — came in first in the election held on Oct. 16, but will need to form a coalition to stay in government. On the day of the vote, 20 Serbs, including a retired police general, were arrested in Montenegro and accused of planning an attack on the government. Serbia also made arrests; its prime minister said there was “undeniable and material” evidence of a plot.
His party, the Democratic Party of Socialists, came in first in the election held on Oct. 16, but will need to form a coalition to stay in government. On the day of the vote, 20 Serbs, including a retired police general, were arrested in Montenegro and accused of planning an attack on the government. Serbia also made arrests; its prime minister said there was “undeniable and material” evidence of a plot.
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Djukanovic’s office said his decision was “carefully planned” and “has nothing to do with the alleged coup.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Mr. Djukanovic’s office said his decision was “carefully planned” and “has nothing to do with the alleged coup.”
The statement accused Moscow of backing parties opposed to Mr. Djukanovic’s goal of steering Montenegro toward the European Union and NATO.
The statement accused Moscow of backing parties opposed to Mr. Djukanovic’s goal of steering Montenegro toward the European Union and NATO.
Mr. Djukanovic contrasted his pro-NATO, pro-European stance with pro-Russian elements in the opposition, and portrayed the election as a vote on Montenegro’s future, calling it “a referendum for NATO membership.”
Mr. Djukanovic portrayed the election as a vote on Montenegro’s future, calling it “a referendum for NATO membership.”
“We have defended the European values,” he added. “On the involvement of Russian structures on the side of the opposition in these elections, it is a waste of words to comment. It is more than obvious.”
Mr. Djukanovic will remain a powerful figure as party chairman; he is set to be replaced as prime minister by his closest ally, Dusko Markovic, a former chief of state security.
The leader of Montenegro for most of the past 25 years, with brief interruptions in 2006 and 2010, Mr. Djukanovic depicted the country as an island of stability in the troubled Balkans. Montenegro has become something of a tourism hot spot, with its mountainous coast and Venetian-influenced cities attracting foreign visitors, especially Europeans.
Opposition parties have accused the government of fabricating the coup attempt, and Russian interference, as part of a strategy to suppress turnout by opponents.
Mr. Djukanovic will remain a powerful figure as the chairman of his party; he is set to be replaced as prime minister by his closest ally, Dusko Markovic, a former chief of state security.
Opposition parties in Montenegro have accused the government of fabricating the coup attempt and Russian interference as part of a strategy to suppress turnout by opponents.
“Most likely Djukanovic is stepping down under Western, not Russian, pressure,” said Dimitar Bechev, a scholar of Russian policy in the Balkans at the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies at Harvard, adding that he thought Mr. Djukanovic “will be pulling the strings informally,” as he did the previous times he ceded power.
Montenegro has set a goal of joining NATO next year and the European Union by 2020, but the latter goal is considered unrealistic, given the magnitude of Montenegro’s problems with organized crime and corruption, and amid uncertainty about the bloc’s future.
But Mr. Djukanovic’s departure may ease Montenegro’s progress toward the European Union, said Ljubomir Filipovic, a civic activist and until recently a member of the Social Democratic Party, a longtime ally of the Democratic Party of Socialists that has now shifted to opposition.
“This move is something that the U.S. and E.U. needed, because Milo is a controversial political figure,” Mr. Filipovic said. “After the election returned a pro-NATO parliamentary majority, the argument of Russian influence as the main reason for Montenegrin NATO and E.U. accession faded. The prime minister’s past would pop up eventually in the Western public view, and nobody needs that right now.”
Mr. Djukanovic was seen by supporters as a pro-Western reformer, and he had backed European Union sanctions on Russia, historically an ally of Serbia and Montenegro and still an important investor in the Balkans. Western diplomats praised Mr. Djukanovic for his efforts to tackle corruption, which included the appointment of a special prosecutor to look into senior politicians, including a former president.
But critics say Mr. Djukanovic tended toward authoritarian rule and tolerated graft. In 2015, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a monitoring group, labeled him “man of the year in organized crime,” alleging that he was involved in tobacco smuggling during the 1990s wars in Yugoslavia, among other misdeeds. Mr. Djukanovic has denied breaking any laws.
