Referendum and Compromise

The pompously announced negotiations between the leaders of DPS (the Democratic Party of Socialists) and SNP (the Socialist People's Party), Milo Djukanovic and Predrag Bulatovic, respectively, have brought no novelty a propos the organisation of the imminent referendum in Montenegro, at least not judging from the reactions of the public. Djukanovic remained faithful to his previous conviction, suggesting the necessity of the referendum, whereas Bulatovic still hangs about the theory that it is not yet time for the referendum.

AGREEMENT WILL BE RESPECTED: The conditions, as seen by SNP, the People's Party and the Serbian People's Party, are the liberation of the media and their putting under police control, the clearing out of electoral lists, the definition of whether the right to vote will be given to citizens or residents, the necessity of constituting a concentration government which would be able to organise and carry out the referendum, since the government of Filip Vujanovic, as Predrag Bulatovic stated, cannot act upon that task as expected.

Bulatovic announced that the negotiations with DPS would carry on, but he mentioned that there was no discussion on the concentration government, which, in an earlier statement, had also been propped up by President Djukanovic himself. Miodrag Vukovic, President of the Executive Committee of DPS, also referred to the idea of a concentration government, although the added that it should only follow the setting up of the referendum procedure. The referendum, which used to be announced for July this year - as the result of a treaty reached between the Liberal Alliance and the coalition 'the Victory of Montenegro' is now supposed to be called in the first quarter of the following year the latest. The deadline for its final carrying out would be eight months from July 11th. However, a half of the two-month period prescribed for adopting a new referendum law has passed, which forced the Liberals to 'push' the coalition partners (DPS and SDP - the Party of Democratic Changes) to call an extraordinary Parliament session for September 4th, at which the new Law on Referendum and a new referendum procedure should
finally be adopted. The fact that Djukanovic was the one to initiate the aforementioned dialogue with Predrag Bulatovic was a good enough reason for launching the claim that the future of the referendum was far from certain, since it was allegedly what both DPS and SNP, as holders of power in Montenegro and the FRY, respectively, favoured.

The Liberal leader, Miodrag Zivkovic says to VREME that the most upsetting thing for him is that there is a certain degree of concord between Djukanovic and Bulatovic about some future Montenegrin projects and about the postponement of the referendum, since both leaders seem to be content with the current status quo in Montenegro. 'The Liberal Alliance is of the opinion that the unchanging situation is practically a way of no return for Montenegro', says Zivkovic.

It is beyond doubt that the Liberals will not give their backing to the minority government if the determined deadline for calling the referendum is not obeyed, while such a probability is energetically turned down by both DPS and SNP, whose leaders claim that the agreement with the Liberals will be utterly respected. On the other side, Predrag Bulatovic claims that SNP will not participate in the work of the Committee elected to compose the new Law on Referendum, but it will take part in the work of the extraordinary Parliament session, at which its members will demonstrate that the mere calling of the session is no more than a weighted move on the part of the current authorities. The FRY-orientated parties are not too content with prolongation, although they had adopted the platform on the redefinition of relations within the federation at the federal level (with their coalition partner DOS - the Democratic Opposition of Serbia), which, frankly speaking, is not taken too seriously. Moreover, SNP's Vice President, Srdja Bozovic, stated that the platform would be applied in case of reaching the decision on the continued existence of the joint state. The fact is that none of pro-Yugoslav parties is against referendum in general, though they do disagree with the current conditions, so it remains an open question whether the government will please their demands and thus protect the referendum from being boycotted and receive the assurances that the opposed options will accept the result regardless of its outcome, which would secure the overall stability and the civil peace.

CROSSFIRE: Ranko Krivokapic, Vice President of SDP says for VREME that the referendum will help the process of unification of SNP to the bloc 'The Victory of Montenegro' and the Liberal Alliance. SNP might easily come to a conclusion that without the referendum there would be no other way to protect the interests of Montenegro. Predrag Bulatovic however claims something completely different - the crisis within DOS does not put the survival of the federation in jeopardy, but it will surely postpone the talks between Montenegro and Serbia at the level of republican governments, while the Vice President of the People's Party, Predrag Popovic says for VREME that it is necessary to delay the referendum for a some better time.

The ruling coalition of Montenegro, and President Djukanovic in particular, found themselves in crossfire between the pro-FRY parties and the Liberals. It is unlikely that Djukanovic will give up the idea of referendum despite all external pressures; it seems that he is even more convinced in his forthcoming success. It is however certain that he will be maximally forthcoming towards the Yugoslav coalition in order to enable the most fitting environment for the referendum. In that sense, there should be no surprise if he eventually yields to the idea of the concentration government, but only after the agreement on the referendum procedure. The renouncement of referendum on his part would mean a definite loss of authority.