Thewesternbalkans
The Parliament of Montenegro adopted in a late-night session on June 28 the controversial Resolution on genocide in the Jasenovac, Dachau and Mauthausen camps, initiated by pro-Serb and pro-Russian parties. Out of 81 MP’s 41 deputies voted for the Resolution, one was against, and there were no abstentions. The opposition and several representatives of the government did not attend the vote.
Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić, a key pro-Serbian figure, introduced the resolution. According to him, the Resolution is not there to judge, but to better understand the knowledge that evil is only evil, regardless of who committed it. “People from Montenegro, our compatriots, citizens of the former Yugoslav Kingdom, where Montenegro was located, have lost their lives in the Jasenovac camp system, Dachau, Mauthausen during World War II. In this way, we want to send a message of respect to our ancestors who died there”, Mandić said.
The resolution focuses on a World War II death camp in Jasenovac, Croatia, which was run by the fascist regime in the country that collaborated with Nazi Germany. Tens of thousands of Serbs, Jews, Roma and other minorities were murdered at the camp.
Montenegrin MPs expanded their resolution at the last minute to include other historical crimes such as the Nazi concentration camps at Dachau and Mauthausen.
Croatia’s government condemned the Montenegrin parliament’s resolution as “unacceptable, inappropriate, and unnecessary to adopt a resolution whose intention is not to build a culture of remembrance and reconciliation but to instrumentalize the memory of the victims of Jasenovac for the short-term political goals of the initiators of this resolution”.
Prime Minister Plenković also warns Montenegro that would negatively impact their bilateral relations and Montenegro’s European path.
European Council President Charles Michel postponed his visit to Montenegro, planned for July 2 and 3, to ensure successful talks with key interlocutors in the country, which should not be overshadowed by the latest developments due to the adoption of a resolution on genocide in the Jasenovac by the Montenegrin parliament. President Michel states that “good neighborly relations remain a key element of the accession process.”
Comment: This adoption of the Resolution on Jasenovac comes after Montenegro recently supported a UN resolution commemorating the Srebrenica genocide, which the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian factions opposed.
The Resolution on the Jasenovac concentration camp has been in the parliamentary procedure since May 17, when it was supported by 43 of the total 81 deputies in the Montenegrin parliament on the initiative of the speaker of the Montenegrin parliament Andrija Mandić, a leader of the pro-Serbian and pro-Russian right. Among the signatories of the draft resolution are representatives of Spaich’s movement “Europe Now”.
However, the vote definitely overshadowed the plans of Spajić’s pro-EU centrist government. The main goal of Montenegrin government to close “quite a few chapters” by the end of the year, while Hungary is chairing meetings of the Council of the EU and to become EU member by 2028 seem harder to achieve after the adoption of the Jasenovac Resolution. But also shows another important problem in the country – the continued huge influence of Serbia in the political life of Montenegro.
