LOCAL PRESS

Vucic: Haradinaj makes his private Serb cabinet minister (Beta/B92)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic emphasized on Monday in Belgrade that Pristina has thawed the so-called frozen conflict with the introduction of taxes on Serbian goods. As the president said, because of his, he fears all kinds of things that could happen in the future. After his meeting with France’s Minister for European Affairs Nathalie Loiseau, Vucic also said Ramush Haradinaj today chose his private Serbs. This comment concerned the appointment in Pristina of a new minister of agriculture, to replace of Nenad Rikalo. Vucic also said that he told Loiseau how difficult the situation on the issue of Kosovo and Metohija is for us, where which somebody introduces 100 percent taxes, where somebody is not fulfilling the Brussels agreement, is not forming the Community of Serb Municipalities (ZSO). Serbia, as he underlined, has acted responsibly, did not undertake any reciprocal measure, but he also pointed out that it was not just about the issue of our patience. “It is impossible to suffer all kinds of insults every day, like the latest one, when Ramush Haradinaj chooses private Serbs for his ministers whom nobody has elected, to show that he is omnipotent. Serbia will not accept it, will protect its dignity and the people, and we will try to preserve peace and security at all costs, but we will not allow anyone to humiliate our people and God forbit a chance to attack them,” Vucic said. “Obviously Pristina has other helpers, who find it normal to stop the flow of goods. This is not normal to us, it’s an anti-civilization measure,” he said, adding that he believes that, once the taxes have been abolished, the dialogue can continue. According to him, someone has used the taxes knowing that the dialogue would be impossible, in order not to reach a solution.

Brnabic: Taxes biggest obstacle to normalization of relations (RTS/Tanjug/Beta)

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic met with French Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Affairs Nathalie Loiseau and said that Serbia remains committed to the process of European integration as the most efficient way for internal transformation of society and raising the quality of life of all citizens. Brnabic pointed out that the creation of a strategic partnership and stronger economic ties between the two countries is a major step in the development of bilateral and overall relations between Serbia and France. She thanked the French Minister for her consistent stance on the necessity to abolish Pristina’s 100% taxes on Serbian goods. According to Brnabic, Pristina sends unambiguous messages on a daily basis that it is not for dialogue and that it is ready to use unpopular measures such as taxes, which are also the biggest obstacle to the normalization of relations. This problem has been recognized as a key problem also by our partners from the European Union, she added, adding that in the future she expects even stronger support for our country’s efforts to become a member of the European Union.

Loiseau conveyed France’s support to the European perspective of Serbia, which is a guarantor of peace and stability in the region, saying that the country will continue to offer concrete support to Serbia through the French Development Agency, which will soon begin to work after the signing of the agreement. She also announced the continuation of concrete support to Serbia in the process of public administration reform, economic development, and rule of law.

The Minister expressed her belief that the growth of French investments in Serbia will continue in the future, primarily in the light of the forthcoming visit of French President Emanuel Macron to Serbia.

Mihajlovic: First section of Nis-Merdare highway to start by year’s end (Beta)

Serbian Construction Minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Monday that work on the first section of the Nis-Merdare highway would start by the end of the year. She said the plans for the 38 kilometer section from the southern city of Nis to Plocnik were being finalized. “We have secured budget guarantees of 200 million Euros – 100 million to the European Investment Bank and 100 million to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,” she said, adding that the contracts with those banks would be signed once the government auditor commission gives its approval.

Presevo valley to be included in dialogue (FoNet)

The leader of the Democratic Party of Albanians Ragmi Mustafa said on Monday he has been promised by politicians in Pristina that the Presevo valley would be a topic of the talks with Belgrade. Mustafa said that he received assurances from Fatmir Limaj, co-chair of the Kosovo negotiation team, that the problems facing the Presevo valley Albanians would be seriously discussed at the talks in Brussels. He said that he supports Pristina’s platform for the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue because, according to him, it’s the first document which mentions reciprocal rights for Kosovo Serbs and Presevo valley Albanians.

Kocijancic: There is no “Balkan Spring” (Tanjug)

The boycott of parliament is not acceptable, there won’t be a “Balkan spring”, this is the stance of the EU regarding the events in Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia. In the light of recent events in the Balkan region, EU spokesperson Maja Kocijancic stated that the protest in those countries that are happening at the same time shouldn’t be compared. “Protests in every country have their own characteristics and I would not compare those situations,” Kocijancic said in Brussels. She accepted the journalist’s assessment that there are “some common elements” in the demands of citizens who are protesting, but she stressed that they are not for comparison. Kocijancic, like Mogherini and Hahn, condemned the behavior of Albanian opposition parties who left parliament asserting that such decisions may harm the functioning of the national assembly.

Kocijancic repeated that the Balkan region has a clear European perspective that can become reality only through the implementation of reforms. She states that enlargement package reports for all candidate countries will be published in spring 2019, as previously planned.

NGOs advocate harmonization regarding Kosovo and EU integration acceleration (Tanjug)

Reaching the broadest possible consent of the authorities and opposition regarding the finalization of the process of normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations, acceleration of EU integration, full cooperation with neighbors and NATO, are the four pillars of the new foreign policy initiative of NGOs presented in Belgrade. Representatives of the civil sector underline that the EU integration process cannot progress until the process of normalization of Belgrade-Pristina relations ends and they advocate a peaceful solution that needs to be based on compromise. The document was drafted at the initiative of the European Movement in Serbia and the Foreign Policy Center, with the support of 18 civil society organizations, and it points to the crucial moves that should be taken in a short period so Serbia’s position would improve in the Balkans and in Europe, note the signatories of the document.

REGIONAL PRESS

Dodik: Zvizdic is certainly not the one to set conditions (Srna)

Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik told Srna that (Chairman of the Council of Ministers in caretaking capacity) Denis Zvizdic is certainly not the one entitled to determine when the Council of Ministers will be formed, nor can he set the terms and conditions under which this body will be formed. “The Law on the Council of Ministers and the Rules of Procedure of the B&H Presidency specify the procedure and deadlines for the formation of the Council of Ministers. Zvizdic should have known it or he is not into exactly those laws. He should have also known that all deadlines and procedures stipulated by the law have been violated, thanks to a political group whose representative he is,” Dodik told Srna when asked to comment on Zvidic’s statement that the appointment of the new chair of the Council of Ministers should be a simultaneous process with the adoption of the annual national plan for NATO integration. Dodik stressed that Zvizdic should have also known that the EU highlighted two conditions for the continuation of B&H’s European path, which are the establishment of authorities at the B&H level without conditioning and completing the European Commission’s Questionnaire.

Bosniaks use NATO as excuse to prevent Serbs appointments to State government (Srna/N1)

Blocking the formation of the new Council of Ministers was a planned political game which has nothing to do with B&H’s Membership Action Plan for NATO. It is about occupying important functions to prevent Serbs from the Republika Srpska (RS) entity and the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) from taking office, the RS President Zeljka Cvijanovic said. “The blockade lasts for too long. We’re needlessly wasting time and shortening the time during which someone from the RS could have been the Council of Ministers Chairman” Cvijanovic told the press. Commenting on Zvizdic’s statements that the appointment of the new Chairman should be made simultaneously with the adoption of B&H’s Annual National Program (ANP) for NATO, Cvijanovic noted that Bosniaks are using the NATO and MAP stories as an excuse for some other political goals. She recalled that the position of the Council of Ministers’ Chairman belongs to the SNSD as the winning Serb party after the October general election in B&H and that everyone is aware of that. “Zvizdic’s occupied the position for too long. We’ve had the election, and it’s time to implement the results and form the new Council of Ministers” Cvijanovic said. “He’s occupying this position with the aim of preventing a Serb from the SNSD from taking office.” According to her, after the Council of Ministers is formed, it should define its agenda for this mandate and start working on its implementation because only that is in the interest of all B&H citizens.

Answers to additional questions submitted to European Commission (Srna)

The Directorate for European Integration submitted answers to 665 additional questions to the European Commission in order for it to prepare an opinion on B&H’s application for EU membership, says the Directorate. Answers to additional questions were submitted to the European Commission after they were being confirmed by all levels of authorities in B&H. These answers were prepared within the coordination mechanism body. Within 35 European integration working groups, 1,083 civil servants from all levels of authorities in B&H, who were appointed to 1,600 positions, i.e. some civil servants took part in several working groups, were engaged in preparing the answers to additional questions. In addition, 15 members of the European Integration Commission were also engaged, while a total of 2,311 pages of the answers to additional questions were prepared. Along with the answers and the attachments, 153 acts were also submitted as references. The purpose of providing answers to additional questions is clarification of the previously submitted answers to the questions of the European Commission’s Questionnaire, its amendments or information update. Preparing the answers to European Commission’s additional questions is part of an entire process aimed at preparing the opinion on the B&H’s application for EU membership, in which the European Commission is going to give a detailed analysis of the situation in the country and an assessment of the readiness to move to the next phase of relations with the EU. The European Commission submitted additional questions to B&H on June 20 last year. Most answers were about the chapters related to political criteria 106, social policy and employment 43, transport policy 38, justice, freedom and security 36, and economic criteria 33. The European Commission submitted additional questions to the other 30 chapters of the EU acquis communautaire.

Cubrilovic: Constitution should be amended under broad agreement (Srna/Glas Srpske)

RS parliament speaker Nedeljko Cubrilovic says the first RS Constitution, which is marked for the 27th time, was a brave and visionary move of Serb MPs in the then parliament of the Socialist Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that it should be amended, provided that the ruling and opposition parties reach a high level of agreement. Cubrilovic pointed out that constitutional amendments required a broad agreement of political parties. “The constitution is not something that is changed often or for minor reasons. If the opposition and ruling parties reach a high level of agreement, it should be done,” Cubrilovic told the Monday edition of the Glas Srpske daily. Cubrilovic believes this can be done without any problems given the current state of play and that the political parties with seats in RS are fully aware of the situation and willing to do it, which is their duty as B&H is a member of the Council of Europe. He recalls that the Bosniak Caucus in the RS Council of Peoples have, since 2012, been hindering the adoption of 29 amendments to the Constitution, including the one stating that the capital is not Sarajevo but Banja Luka, and the one abolishing the death penalty. “There is also an amendment banning discrimination, one guaranteeing the right to people’s freedom and security, one providing the right to fair trial, and so on. Erasing the death penalty from the Constitution has been on obligation for a long time, while Banja Luka is a de facto capital, even though the Constitution says differently. These are definitely the reasons the Constitution should be amended, and I repeat it takes a high level of political agreement,” said Cubrilovic. Adoption of the Constitution of RS on February 28, 1992 laid the foundations of RS because the Constitution established and confirmed RS, in which people were equal and free. “The RS parliament’s role in the foundation of RS was a crucial one. Since the adoption of the Declaration on the proclamation of the Republic of Serb People in B&H, up until the formation of authorities and institutions, established by the first Constitution, it performed the duties of all state bodies in the Republic, and has been constantly fighting for the preservation of RS and will continue to do so in the future,” said Cubrilovic. According to the speaker, the Constitution needs to be safeguarded all the time because it constantly comes under attack and there are attempts to amend it fully and substantially. “The first Constitution has survived interventions by high representatives as well, who often attacked the Constitution with imposed amendments. Even though they amended our highest legal act avoiding the political will of RS, they did one more thing too – they recognized the continuity of the Constitution from 1992 until today, and therefore the existence of RS before the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement, which is a matter of continuing dispute whenever we arrive to January 9 and marking of the Day of RS,” he said. Cubrilovic stated that the Constitution had been amended 17 times and that more than 120 amendments to it had been adopted.

Zvizdic: B&H will not be assembly point in the Balkans (Srna)

Caretaker Council of Ministers Chair Denis Zvizdic says B&H will not be an assembly point for migrants in the Balkans and that, if the EU closes its borders to migrants, the country will close its own borders too. Zvizdic recalls that B&H has six centers for migrants able to accommodate up to 4,500 people. “In case of a sudden movement of migrants towards the Balkan countries and the so-called Balkan route, we will protect our borders. The Council will discuss this issue as early as Tuesday – the number of police officers, ways for protecting our borders in the east, new messages for our neighbors not to insist on migrants crossing over from Serbia and Montenegro themselves,” Zvizdic told the press in Sarajevo. He added that the most numerous migrants in B&H came from Iran, who entered from Serbia where they arrived as tourists thanks to the visa free regime there. “We will start the screening. The countries affected by wars will have the priority,” explained Zvizdic.  According to him, a new kind of relationship was discussed with the EU in terms of financing the migration crisis. “Not a single euro has gone through the B&H finance system so far. The entire assistance, the total assistance of six or seven million euros, did not go through the Ministry of Finance and Treasury, but directly through international organizations,” noted Zvizdic. No matter the amount of financial aid anyone may offer, B&H will not agree to be an assembly point for migrants in the Balkans” he said.

Presidency Chairman opens Economic Forum 2019 (Fena)

All political debates in Bosnia should stop and focus should be put on the infrastructure development, B&H Presidency Chairman Milorad Dodik said on Monday. Addressing the opening of the Economic Forum 2019 in Sarajevo, Dodik said that “the predatory privatization” destroyed the economic tissue of B&H, and that consequently, the country failed to become a good competition at the regional and other markets. “How good it was what we were doing, we can tell from the fact that we did not manage to employ the same number of people as we did before the war, that we’re being left without a great number of young people who are leaving, which doesn’t depend on us only but on the strategies of developed countries that seek the labor force in these territories” said the Presidency Chairman. It is necessary to reverse these processes and stop the departure of people to foreign countries for work. “I think we should stop all political debates in B&H and focus on collecting at least €3-5 billion in the next three years for the construction of infrastructure,” he added. According to European Union Special Representative in B&H, Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, the economic situation is much better than it was four years ago and the country records a decent growth. However, the citizens have not felt the benefits yet and the progress in many sectors is “frustratingly slow.” In order to achieve full economic potential, the country needs a set of precise measures that the authorities would be following for the next few years.

Izetbegovic – Kukic: Constructive and comprehensive meeting between SDA and PDA (Fena)

The meeting of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) and the Democratic Action Movement (PDA) ended yesterday in a very good and constructive atmosphere, with a high degree of consensus on important priorities, the presidents of these parties stated after the meeting.

Bakir Izetbegovic, president of the SDA after the meeting with Mirsad Kukic from the PDA, expressed the need for sincerity in cooperation between the parties that should be coalesced to form the government. “We focused on the issue of sincerity in cooperation, which we didn’t have enough in the previous period, which was the reason for the division between us and the PDA.” “I expect new mechanisms to be established and a more coherent relationship in cooperation.” Outvoting is slowing down the process of making the important decisions” said Izetbegovic.

He estimated that it was necessary “to unbind the node which exist between the SDA and PDA – SBB as soon as possible” before making any decisions. He also added that the PDA is not alone – it is in block with A-SDA and SBB and that the block is being negotiated.

Interior Minister visits North Macedonia, discusses migration (Hina)

Croatian Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic began a two-day visit to North Macedonia by meeting with his counterpart Oliver Spasovksi in Skopje on Monday evening. Spasovski thanked Croatia for police assistance in dealing with the migrant crisis and for political support in helping his country on the path to membership of the European Union and NATO. “This is yet another confirmation of our friendship and cooperation,” Spasovski said after the meeting, thanking Croatian police for helping their Macedonian colleagues in securing the border with Greece. “This is very important for Macedonia and the whole region. This model shows how cooperation in dealing with crises such as migration, which has hit all of us, should be functioning,” he added. Spasovski said they had discussed bilateral relations, combating organized and cross-border crime, the integration of North Macedonia into NATO, and the sharing of Croatia’s experience from the EU accession process. Bozinovic said that the Croatian parliament would ratify North Macedonia’s NATO accession protocol most likely by the end of this week, adding that this was a major step for stability and security in the region and for the country’s EU membership bid. Bozinovic expressed hope that North Macedonia would open EU membership negotiations as soon as possible, adding that one of the priorities of the Croatian presidency of the EU in the first half of 2020 would be further EU enlargement. “It will certainly be the period in which both Croatia and North Macedonia will do as much work as possible regarding (Macedonia’s) EU integration,” the Croatian minister said. He said he was glad to hear that the hosts were satisfied with the cooperation between the two countries, especially with the cooperation with the Croatian police deployed at border crossings with Greece to prevent illegal migration. “This route which runs from Greece stops before the Croatian border and that’s why it is very important to us to cooperate with all these countries to improve this entire process, all the procedures that protect the security of our border and the security of our citizens and our guests,” Bozinovic said. He noted that migration was one of six priority areas of cooperation between the EU and membership aspirants, adding that during its EU presidency Croatia would organize a special conference on this matter. Bozinovic said that North Macedonia and other countries in the region have in Croatia their staunchest advocate in the EU institutions.

It’s not up to Russia to decide who will become NATO member (Pobjeda)

Montenegro is a good example of a small state that is able to integrate into a big system, such as NATO alliance. We’re glad to know that Montenegro, just like many other new Member States, cooperates with North Macedonia while offering it advice and sharing their own experience, said NATO official at the briefing dedicated to Western Balkans during the meeting of NATO Ministers that was held in Brussels. “The main topic of the meeting was North Macedonia, which is going to become NATO Member in about a year, according to the estimates of the officials of the Alliance. Not parliaments of all NATO allies are equally fast. According to our expectations, North Macedonia could become a full NATO Member by next spring. We’ll do everything we can to speed up the ratification process. However, those are individual decisions of sovereign parliaments and it’s not up to NATO to make an impact on that process,” said the official. Unnamed official said he was glad that many new Member states cooperated closely with Skopje. Asked if he expected any problems regarding the ratification of the agreement on the accession of North Macedonia to NATO, he says that there are no any indicators for potential problems. “It’s important that the state goes on with the implementation of reforms, in order to confirm that it’s ready to become part of NATO. Ratification is just a matter of time and depends on the procedures in the national parliament,” said the official. Asked to comment on the statement of Russian ambassador to the UN, who said that membership of North Macedonia would provoke consequences, NATO source points out that relations between Macedonia and Russia will be changed. It’s because Russia says that they disagree with NATO enlargement and it’s their right to have such attitude. It’s not up to Russia to decide which state will be part of NATO,” answered the official.

Ministry of Defense of Austria: Foreign policy and cooperation will provide security of the region (Partner)

Minister of Defense of Austria, Mario Kunasek, said in the conversation for Partner, magazine of the Ministry of Defense of Montenegro, that the Austrian Ministry of Defense would still focus its attention on Western Balkans, with possible reinforcement of the engagement in missions and operations that the EU is conducting in Africa in order to reduce the pressures on illegal migrations in Europe. He pointed out that, in case his state or other states refrained from their participation in international missions, development trends in the insecure regions could have bad consequences for Europe. “We must export security,” says the Minister whose state is taking active part in EUFOR mission Althea in B&H as well as in the KFOR mission in Kosovo and this actively contributes to preserving peace and stability in the region. When it comes to the relations with Montenegro regarding defense matters, Kunasek points out the importance of intensifying bilateral cooperation, especially in the domain of training for mountain warfare. “As Minister of Defense, I strive to deepen bilateral contacts and defense cooperation with Montenegro, in the light of Joint Statement from Graz. I believe it is very important that we intensify our bilateral cooperation in the domain of mountain warfare training and talk about the future initiatives related to safe munition and armament storage,” said the Minister. Talking about the perspective of Montenegro in the EU, in the context of its NATO membership, Kunasek says it’s very good. He agrees with the EU attitude that Montenegro remains constructively committed to bilateral relations with other candidates and neighboring EU Member States and that it is an active participant in the regional cooperation. “Montenegro has got the capabilities and political will for the preparation of the implementation of the acquis communautaire of the EU,” says Kunasek. Joint statement, signed in Graz in September of 2018, is formally recognized by Ministers of Defense of Albania, Austria, B&H, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. It expresses committed political will to intensify cooperation with WB, with the aim of increasing EU perspective of these states.

Xhacka: The Western vision culminated with the signing of the Prespa Agreement (ADN)

North Macedonia and Albania are focused on improving mutual cooperation in the defense field. North Macedonia’s NATO accession makes the region safer and more stable, and we are seeing the future with more optimism, agreed Defense Minister Radmila Sekerinska and Albanian counterpart Olta Xhacka, who is paying an official visit to Skopje. Sekerinska said Albania has always been a good neighbor and friend, but also NATO ally and partner as of 2019. “Over the past couple of years, now only words but deeds have shown that the two countries are true friends that give each other full support when it matters,” said Sekerinska. According to her, the fact that North Macedonia’s immediate neighbors Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and Slovenia were the first to ratify the NATO Accession Protocol shows that Alliance values are their values – cooperation, respect and support. “We worked and deserved the NATO membership, but it is a fact that North Macedonia is not stopping there. We see NATO as a chance for a better life of all citizens, a better economy and a chance for better institutions,” said Sekerinska. She noted that Macedonian Army troops would take part at a multinational exercise in Albania later in the year, but also take part in the Adriatic Charter-US initiative chaired by Albania and joint participation in Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan. “Albania sees the stability and security of North Macedonia as the main prerequisite for the security in the region,” said Albanian Minister Xhacka. She said the western vision culminated with the signing of the Prespa Agreement and expressed satisfaction from the demonstrated courage and leadership regarding the deal with Greece and the law on the use of languages. “The environment required for implementation of the Ohrid Framework Agreement has been created, since this is one of the main prerequisite for the country’s Euro-Atlantic integration, which we fully support,” added Xhacka.

INTERNATIONAL MEDIA SOURCES

Time for Europe’s longest-serving ruler to go (politico.eu, by Ivor Roberts, 22 February 2019)

Beset by scandal, Montenegro’s Milo Ðukanović now belongs to the past.

Here’s a question for your next pub quiz: Who is Europe’s longest serving leader? Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Belarus’ Alexander Lukashenko and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are all likely to be popular guesses. But the dubious honor belongs to Milo Ðukanović, the president of Montenegro. Milo, as he is known in the region, has been calling the shots in the tiny Adriatic state for almost 30 years — as president, prime minister or party leader, thanks to the occasional Putin-style switch between posts. And at 59, he could well have another decade or two in the tank and still overtake records set by Africa’s longest-lasting despots. Or at least it seemed that way until quite recently. These days, Ðukanović’s grip on power looks considerably less firm. Some 10,000 people — a not insignificant number, when you consider Montenegro’s population is only 630,000 — flooded the capital, Podgorica, last weekend to protest his government and call for his resignation. A stormy debate in the country’s parliament also saw calls for Ðukanović to step down. The trouble started when Milo fell out with prominent Montenegrin businessman Duško Knežević. In December, authorities accused Knežević of a series of misdemeanors and seized his assets. The trouble was that Knežević — who owns Atlas Group, a conglomerate of banking, insurance and health interests — is not just any businessman. For the past 25 years, he has been closely involved in the government’s most intimate affairs and knows, figuratively if not literally, where the bodies are buried. Knežević didn’t take well to the scrutiny, and responded to the allegations by launching a blistering campaign against Ðukanović and his family from London. In a succession of social media posts, he released information on a series of buried corruption and misgovernance scandals that go up to the highest levels of Montenegro’s ruling class. In one of the most damaging revelations, a senior member of Milo’s party is apparently caught on camera accepting an illegal cash donation from Knežević. The businessman also alleged Ðukanović is the owner of a vast oligarch-kitsch villa valued at $10 million. (Ðukanović has denied Knežević’s allegations.) The string of unsavory revelations risk prompting those within Ðukanović’s party who believe a change in leadership is overdue to join up with the opposition and force him to retire. After I first met Ðukanović in the mid-1990s, when I was ambassador in Belgrade, I remember reporting back to London that he was different from most other former Yugoslav leaders. He was from a different generation to the likes of former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, of course. But he also struck me as more moderate, more reasonable, and very concerned about putting the interests of Montenegro first. This was someone we should try to do business with, I told London. Over the years, Ðukanović seemed to fulfill that promise. In the lead-up to the Kosovo war, he disowned Milošević and the policies of the Belgrade government and managed to ensure that Montenegro was scarcely targeted in the NATO bombing campaign. He also showed personal courage and real political dexterity in the aftermath, guiding his country to independence from Serbia and then, in the face of huge hostility from Moscow, to membership of NATO. Putin’s response was to send his bungling GRU officers to Montenegro to try to organize a coup against Ðukanović — a task they carried out as effectively as their attempted assassination of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury. But for all his qualities and achievements, Ðukanović now belongs to the past. He links Montenegro to the era of former Croatian President Franjo Tuđman and Milošević — not to mention former U.K. Prime Minister John Major, ex-Russian President Boris Yeltsin and former U.S. President Bill Clinton — of communist Yugoslavia, wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, and allegations of cigarette smuggling and narcotics trafficking. The epoch of Balkans politics in which his career was forged was one of strong men, of opacity, rule-bending and a lack of accountability. But if Montenegro is ever to achieve full membership of the European Union, it will need a different kind of leader and a different political culture. The EU accession process demands that applicant states reach tough standards of propriety and the rule of law, adhere to regulations and get tough on corruption. Montenegro has a long way to go to combat criminality and develop a culture of transparency and accountability. And it will need a leader who is capable of leading on these issues, not one whose own integrity is under question. The good news is that Montenegro already has those leaders: The current prime minister, Duško Marković, for example, is a calm and effective presence at the head of the government and his predecessor, Igor Luksić, is a bright star of the next generation. The transformation of North Macedonia, another former constituent republic of Yugoslavia, over the past 18 months is a prime example of how a change of leadership can transform a country’s image and help along the process of its accession to the EU.

The country’s new liberal prime minister, Zoran Zaev, moved quickly to mend relations with the Albanian community and break a 25-year deadlock with Greece on his country’s name. By doing so, he’s put his country on a fast track to NATO and smoothed its path to membership of the EU.

Montenegro should be setting itself up for similar success. It’s as good time as any to say hvala i zbogom — thanks, and farewell — to Milo Ðukanović.

Ivor Roberts is a former British ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ireland and Italy and was president of Trinity College, Oxford from 2006 to 2017.