Late last night the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Draft Budget Law for the year 2021 ending the provisional financing that had been in force since the Government formation. This document, important as it is, has remained in the shadow of two important events for Montenegro – the adoption of the Resolution on Srebrenica and the dismissal of Minister of Justice Vladimir Leposavic for denying the genocide in Srebrenica.
The Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Draft Resolution on Srebrenica last night. As much as 55 MPs voted in favor of the Resolution, 19 voted against it, and 7 abstained. The Bosniak Party MP Ervin Ibrahimovic, who proposed the Resolution, says that the purpose of the Resolution is to bring about reconciliation among all nations in both Montenegro and the region and that by adopting this document, Montenegro proves to be the center of democracy in the region. The Mothers of Srebrenica association greeted the decision.
However, the adoption of the Draft Resolution on Srebrenica triggered a new wave of disinformation and narratives coming from numerous Serbia-based media, and pro-Serbian media in Montenegro as well. They started a campaign in an attempt to portray the Srebrenica Resolution as an act declaring the Serbian nation as genocidal. President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic and the MPs that voted in favor of the Resolution, including Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic were under the media firestorm.
Apart from the media, identical disinformation and narratives were spread by the politicians from both Serbia and Montenegro. Particularly vocal were the member of the main board of the Serbian Progressive Party Vladimir Djukanovic and the leader of the Serbian Radical Party Vojislav Seselj. They requested that Prime Minister and the Government members be banned from entry into Serbia. President Aleksandar Vucic also commented on the last night’s events in the Parliament. In his opinion, the decisions passed by the Parliament of Montenegro are against Serbia’s interest, and he said that in the following days, he would decide how to act in response to them.
The MPs from the Democratic Front, who voted against the Resolution, believe that by adopting this document, the Serbs have been declared as genocidal.
The facts, however, clearly show this not to be the truth. The Resolution text clearly states the following: Any attempt to attribute responsibility or blame for the genocide, the crimes against humanity, and other crimes to Serbian, Bosniak, Croatian, or any other nation shall be condemned since only an individual can be held accountable, while no nation can be declared as genocidal or criminal.