Brute Force

The so-called Constitutional Court is considering an appeal by Momir Bulatovic, former President of Montenegro, for Montenegro’s status of a sovereign state to be canceled.  It is certain that the act which he signed was not written by him, for he understands as much about matters of state and sovereignty as your average piano tuner.  It should be remembered that this man headed Montenegro at a time when the Third Yugoslavia was being drafted with Serbia.  At that time, addressing the Montenegrin Parliament, he proposed that in that Third Yugoslavia a common, but not a unified army should be instituted, that full parity should be ensured between the two republics in the Federal Government, that a President of State should be elected on a six month basis.  He said that, it was written and it was submitted to Serbia.  Official Serbia offered a heated reply with a big no thanks.  The President of the Republic of Montenegro immediately corrected everything which was proposed and asking those who are versed in such matters - such as the state and sovereignty - he accepted for Yugoslavia to be based on the model contained in the 1992 Constitution.  And Montenegro and he at its helm were satisfied, with it having been sovereign full five previous years, had its own courts and its own state prosecution, which is a part of the sovereignty it transferred over to Yugoslavia.  He was not bothered, nor did he react to the fact that all those years Serbia was a completely sovereign state, constitutionally considered completely separate from Montenegro and from Yugoslavia.

On the domestic front both the federation and the federal states are sovereign, for sovereignty is the mark of state authority, and the state includes both the federal state and its members states.  On the international front, the only sovereign federation is the one which has all three rights of a sovereign state in international relations: the right to decide on war and peace, the right to representation and the right to making international agreements.  However, in many federations some of these rights are given over to federal units.  That is also the case with FRY.  Member republics can conduct international communication, can make international agreements, can join international integration, can open representative’s offices.  Law and practice indicate and recognize the existence of the so-called right of republics to refuse to apply federal regulations.  This right is contained in the Serbian Constitution.  That right was not included in the Montenegrin Constitution, but because of the political violence against Montenegro, Montenegro is defending itself from the consequences of intentional decisions being adopted by the so-called federal administration in recent times precisely by resorting to this right, decisions which are to the detriment of Montenegro.

That is the law, and that is the practice; that can be followed, but can only be ignored and destroyed by unconstitutional behavior and brute political force, with both being active today.  Thus, the demand for Montenegro to remain without constitutionally defined state sovereignty and international sovereignty and subjectivity, admittedly of limited extent, are being imposed upon Montenegro with a view to its being transformed into a region.

The crawling secession of Serbia, as its present relation to Yugoslavia is being understood today by certain wise people, is traced in its distancing correspondence with the Yugoslav Constitution.  Serbia has no problems in continuing to be a sovereign state, and from the point of view of domestic politics, also in matters of foreign policy.  How many times have we seen an official of the Serbian State going abroad with his entourage including important officials from the federal administration, so that often the question was posed which was more important: Serbia or Yugoslavia.

But the political projection of the new state organization of these territories does not recognize Serbia as a state.  Such a Serbia should also behave like a state, perhaps in order for Serbia to be called that future, bigger state, or for it, like Montenegro, to affix to this political idea of a new, unitary state its own state name and organization.  That is apparent from the fact that the former President of the Republic of Montenegro accused not only Montenegro for unconstitutional behavior, but also placed Serbia on the guilty list.

(Miodrag Vukovic is a President of the Council for Political Systems in the Parliament of Montenegro and Assistant to the President of Montenegro)