the economist
Montenegro and the European Union
Despite its new candidate status, Montenegro is far from joining the EU
Dec 16th 2010 PODGORICA from PRINT EDITION
EUROPEAN Union leaders were expected this week to grant Montenegro the formal status of candidate. It will join two other western Balkan countries: Macedonia, whose negotiations are blocked by its name dispute with Greece, and Croatia, which is close to membership. Progress in one country encourages others. A year ago Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia gained visa-free access to the EU’s 25-country Schengen area. This week Albania and Bosnia joined them, so only Kosovars still need visas.
But Montenegrins have also been told that lots of work remains before they join the EU. Passing laws is good, says the European Commission, but implementation matters more. Such criticism has not ruffled feathers in Podgorica. The commission opinion was “quite fair”, says Slavica Milacic, chief adviser to Milo Djukanovic, the prime minister. Mr Djukanovic, who led Montenegro to independence in 2006, has long signalled that he plans to quit. Now that he has won candidate status for his country he might go soon, handing over to Igor Luksic, his deputy. Mr Djukanovic may hope to keep influence behind the scenes, although he knows that Ivo Sanader, his former counterpart in Croatia, tried and failed to do this (and now stands accused of massive corruption).
Montenegro has a lot on its plate. A Serbian newspaper claims that Darko Saric, an alleged cocaine trafficker on trial in absentia, spent some of this year living in a luxury hotel on the Montenegrin coast. Milorad Veljovic, chief of the Serbian police, said that Mr Saric could not be the real boss of the gang, a remark taken to mean that it was a controversial Montenegrin businessman. Montenegrin officials say these are Serbian slurs and insist they are doing all they can to clamp down on organised crime. Last month they arrested Mr Saric’s brother, at Italy’s request, as part of a co-ordinated operation involving over 80 arrests in Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
But Montenegrins have also been told that lots of work remains before they join the EU. Passing laws is good, says the European Commission, but implementation matters more. Such criticism has not ruffled feathers in Podgorica. The commission opinion was “quite fair”, says Slavica Milacic, chief adviser to Milo Djukanovic, the prime minister. Mr Djukanovic, who led Montenegro to independence in 2006, has long signalled that he plans to quit. Now that he has won candidate status for his country he might go soon, handing over to Igor Luksic, his deputy. Mr Djukanovic may hope to keep influence behind the scenes, although he knows that Ivo Sanader, his former counterpart in Croatia, tried and failed to do this (and now stands accused of massive corruption).
Montenegro has a lot on its plate. A Serbian newspaper claims that Darko Saric, an alleged cocaine trafficker on trial in absentia, spent some of this year living in a luxury hotel on the Montenegrin coast. Milorad Veljovic, chief of the Serbian police, said that Mr Saric could not be the real boss of the gang, a remark taken to mean that it was a controversial Montenegrin businessman. Montenegrin officials say these are Serbian slurs and insist they are doing all they can to clamp down on organised crime. Last month they arrested Mr Saric’s brother, at Italy’s request, as part of a co-ordinated operation involving over 80 arrests in Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia.
Drugs are not the only issue. In November Italy and Montenegro agreed to build an undersea cable to let Montenegro export electricity. The country does not yet have enough electricity for itself, let alone for export. Plans to build four dams on the Moraca river could solve that. But Darko Pajovic of Green Home, an NGO, says the project would have a bad environmental impact and likens it to an “African scenario of economic development”. Dejan Mijovic of Forum 2010, another activist group, will seek a judicial review. He notes that, in 2015, the region’s energy market will be liberalised. After that, he says, electricity will flow to richer Italy, meaning that Montenegrins will have to pay more for their power despite spending up to €200m ($267m) on the dams.
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