Montenegro and the EU : changing contexts, changing roles

Abstract

This chapter looks at the transformation of the role of the European Union (EU) in Montenegro. It argues that the changing political context in the region induced shifts in the EU’s approach to the smallest of the post-Yugoslav states. In supporting this argument, the paper first looks at the EU’s approach to Montenegro in the first years after the disintegration of Yugoslavia, when Montenegro was a constituent state of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and when the ruling Montenegrin elites were associated with Miloševic. The paper further argues that the first significant relational shift between Montenegro and the EU occurred in 1997, when the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) split in two. The fact that the DPS faction, which remained in power in Montenegro opposed the regime in Belgrade induced a more favourable approach of the EU towards the republic. A further change in the relationship between Montenegro and the EU occurred in the context of the divide over statehood and identity after the ouster of Miloševic from power in Serbia. By looking at the process of transformation of the FRY into the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the paper highlights the development of EU’s conditionality in the Western Balkans. This is supplemented by an analysis of the EU’s role in the post-independence period, whereby the major political compromises in Montenegro have emerged as a result of the aspiration to join the EU.