Đukanović on Kosovo, crime cases

Podgorica's decision to establish diplomatic relations with Priština was made in accordance with the national interests of Montenegro and the region.

This is according to a statement made by the country's prime minister, Milo Đukanović, during his interview with B92 TV.

He pointed out that those Montenegrin citizens who declared themselves as Serbs could not have a status of ethnic minority because that was not in accordance with the constitutional system of the state.

Although he did not deny claims about the existence of organized crime in Montenegro, Đukanović says that the country was "recognizable" as a future member of the EU and NATO.

“Montenegro is conducting its policy toward Kosovo in accordance with the national interests, interests in the region and realistic political facts,” Đukanović said.

He pointed out that Montenegro made the decisions to recognize the Kosovo Albanian unilateral proclamation and to establish the diplomatic relations "completely independently".

The latter, he said, was "just a logical consequence of the decision to recognize Kosovo".

“That is why we were surprised by the strong reaction of a part of the public in Serbia," because, according to him, it was expected that both the Serbian and Montenegrin public expected the establishment of diplomatic relations after the recognition.

According to the latest data, as many as 32 percent of Montenegro’s citizens declare themselves as ethnic Serbs.

However, there are no Serbs working in the Montenegrin Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, while out of 207 employed in the Ministry of Health, only 12 are Serbs.

The Montenegrin premier, however, is convinced that this does not constitute for any kind of discrimination.

"Serbs can articulate their interests by forming their National Council," he stated.

“The real question is why those, with the Serb shield, who would like to get a position in the government, parliament or company do not get it? Because they are not competent, because being Serb or Montenegrin or of any other national peprusasion is not enough to compensate for competency,” believes Đukanović.

He also said he was convinced that trial for the murder of the owner of the Croatian daily Nacional Ivo Pukanić, which has recently started in Zagreb, will not have any negative consequences "on his country".

Đukanović's former ally Ratko Knežević made a series of statements where he directly implicated the Montenegrin prime minister in that case.

Another big case, regarding attempted smuggling of over two tons of cocaine from South America to Europe, involved a large number of suspects linked to Montenegro. Regardless of this, Đukanović said that his country was "still not most recognizable by crime".

“I wouldn’t say that Montenegro is recognized in the international community by its successes related to crime and mafia. I would rather say that Montenegro is acknowledged by some other qualities,” he said.

“As a result of this acknowledgement, I expect that Montenegro will be a candidate for membership in the EU this year, and that at the end of last year we became a part of the Membership Action Plan (MAP), the last step ahead of achieving a full-fledged membership in the NATO,” the Montenegrin PM said.

Đukanović addressed another crime case, this time linking him to cigarette smuggling operations from the 1990s, to say that he had voluntarily come forward with his statement upon receiving the proposed charges from the Italian prosecution.

Đukanović emphasized that he did not fall back on his immunity then and that the prosecution continued the investigation "without him", after he had given the statement.