The Break-Up of a Dangerous Liaison

With Panic to the international community and with Cosic to Prevlaka! That seems to be the new slogan of Montenegro's ruling Democratic Party of Socialists in the forthcoming elections scheduled for December 13th. It seems that the Montenegrin government will try do definitely escape the clutches of Milosevic's regime, with whose help it won the last elections. Not only that, it will also try to shake off responsibility for everything that has happened since then. Their actions are so obvious that a deputy of the Social Democratic Party Zarko Rakcevic noted at the last parliament session that "the ruling party is acting as if we were for the war option a year ago, not them".

Montenegro got a new constitution which, according to Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Zoran Zizic who is also one of its authors, "represents the creation of a democratic, rational, effective state of law, enables such rights that neither its authors, nor those implementing it will have a reason to blush with shame..." According to Mr. Zizic, Montenegro got a civic and democratic constitution which "represents its break with the hitherto practice". The deputies of the Democratic coalition (ethnic Albanians and Muslims) claim the constitution is in fact a "death sentence" for them. However, the constitution was adopted although there had been more that 100 amendments which seem to have been eliminated too smoothly, particularly those as regards Montenegro's sovereignty, foreign policy, economy and defense.

The constitution only confirms the already abolished right of Montenegro to have its own Territorial Defence, it cannot declare a state of emergency on its territory, since the constitution says this can only be done in Belgrade, while the limitations concerning foreign policy, economy and development have turned Montenegro into a quasi-state, says the opposition, so that with the break-up of Yugoslavia, only Montenegrins have been left without their own sovereign state. On the opposition's remarks that the Serbian constitution contains all these elements, the Montenegrin Parliament Speaker retorted that the Serbian constitution was not in keeping with the Federal Constitution, and everyone knows which one is older.

Well-informed circles have different comments on all this. The Montenegrin authorities are, allegedly, trying to preserve the just formed federal state at all cost, and the effort will go on until a final break-up between the two authorities. It will thus not take the responsibility for the definite failure of the idea about a common state with Serbia.

Our sources say that all attempts at reconciliation with the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia, held behind closed doors, have failed and now the Montenegrin government sees Panic and Cosic as its last straw, convinced this will save it from falling with the Belgrade regime.