The manner in which an eventually new position in Kosovo could reflect on the position of Montenegro in the Yugoslav federation, and the views of the Montenegrin political parties is examined by Veseljko Koprivica in the Belgrade daily "Danas" of August 30,1998.

The Kosovo crisis reflects on Montenegro through a number of delicate problems. Besides the grounded fears that the conflict could spread from the Serbian Souther province to its territory, great problems are caused by officially registered 30,000 Kosovo refugees. Along with a somewhat larger number of those that have run away from the Bosnian conflict, Montenegro is not only threatened with a social catastrophe, but a demographic quake i drastic change in the national structure of the population. This would inevitably open a new series of problems.

There is also a fear that the solution of the Kosovo crisis through giving this province a new status, could completely change the state and legal status of Montenegro. That is why the unveiling of the plan of the Contact Group has caused great interest among both the Montenegrin authorities and the opposition. But, their positions and stances are quite far apart.

The main questions have come to the fore - which solution suits Montenegro and whether it should participate at all in the negotiations about this. This is an official position of a counsellor of the Montenegrin president, who also added that each of the five proposed solutions is worse for Serbia compared to the status that Kosovo had according to the 1974 SFRY Constitution. Each of this proposals narrows Serbian sovereignty, that is, it enables constituting a statehood like sovereignty of Kosovo. Montenegro will support an agreed solution, taking into consideration that this solution does not endanger its state and legal position and that it does not suffer as an organized state community, added the counsellor. He also expressed the opinion that Montenegro has to be actively involved in the negotiations concerning the status of Kosovo if any of the Contact Group proposals are accepted.

While the members of the three governing coalition parties have similar views on this question, the three opposition parliamentary parties have completely opposing views on the Kosovo question. The president of the SNP - Predrag Bulatovic stresses that the Kosovo and Metohija problem has to be resolved solely within the prerogatives of the Serbian state. In that manner, the character of a two member federation should be preserved as the position of Montenegro as an equal partner in the federation, according to the 1992 FRY Constitution.

The position of the Liberal party is that this question has to be resolved within Serbia according to existing standards in the world. The Liberals are particularly surprised that the representatives of the ruling coalition are attempting to secure a position of Montenegro in these negotiations.

The Democratic Allianc in Montenegro, the party of Albanians in this republic is of the opinion that the Kosovo problem has to be peacefully resolved and with the guarantees of the international community.



Source: Belgrade daily "Danas," August 30, 1998