Serbian President Seeks to Boost Montenegro Ties

Tomislav Nikolic will meet his Montenegrin counterpart, Filip Vujanovic, on January 18 to discuss improving Belgrade-Podgorica relations.

This will be Nikolic’s first official visit to Montenegro since he was elected President of Serbia in May 2012.

In one of his first interviews as President on May 29, 2012, Nikolic, who comes from the nationalist wing of Serbian politics, said he recognised Montenegro as an independent state but saw no other differences between Montenegrins and Serbs.

He said that the relations between two countries ought to be better than they were, because Serbia and Montenegro were “bound by many things that they have in common”.

After Yugoslavia broke up in 1991-1992, Montenegro remained in federation with Serbia, first as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and then, after 2003, in a looser State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

In May 2006, Montenegro invoked its right under the constitution to hold a referendum on independence.

The vote to sever ties with Serbia exceeded the 55-per-cent threshold set by the EU, after which Montenegro declared independence on June 3, 2006.

In the latest census, in 2011, 45 per cent of the population of 625,266 declared themselves Montenegrins, while nearly 30 per cent said they were Serbs. Most others declared themselves Bosniaks, Albanians and Croats.