It was a warm Mediterranean evening. We all gathered on the lawn of the President’s villa. There were perhaps 300 guests. The mood was festive, everyone shaking hands and embracing. The moment eventually came when the President and his wife walked down the lane to the podium, followed by the top guests: the Prime Minister and his wife, and the President of Serbia, the President of Croatia, the Serbian foreign minister, and various other dignitaries. Given that the country had just seceded from Serbia, and had been at war with Croatia not all that long ago, the presence of the heads of neighbouring states was pretty remarkable.
The referendum had been seven weeks before, on 21 May 2006, followed by a re-delcaration of independence on 3 June; but the Treaty of Berlin, recognizing Montenegro’s first round of independence, was signed on 13 July 1878, and that remained the historical independence day despite its rule from Belgrade after 1918.
The guards played a fanfare, and then a young man began to sing the new/old nation’s anthem, joined in the second verse by a young woman, without any other accompaniment, their voices trembling with emotion. For the first time in nine decades, Montenegro was celebrating its traditional independence day as an independent state. They didn’t drop a beat, or miss a note. It was one of the most electrifying things I have ever witnessed.
The President then made a speech – mercifully brief, in that he was aware that many of his guests don’t have a good grasp of the local language (whatever it may be called). He referred to July 13th as the historical date when Montenegro was recognised by the Great Powers of Europe as an independent state in 1878, but enlarged much more on the other anniversary commemorated, the beginning of the Montenegrin rebellion against fascist occupation in 1941. This was smart politics; the most bitter internal opponents of independence were those who felt particularly loyal to Tito and the Partisan legacy. Having said that, most of us in the audience probably appreciated the brevity more than the content.
There may be official photographs in some government archive on a Podgorica web server; I didn’t take any myself. I did get a lovely first day cover set of stamps, which are my only physical memories of a remarkable evening.
I was an early supporter of Montenegro’s independence in Brussels policy circles after I started working here in 1999, and was variously told that I was crazy, deluded or corrupt. Now Montenegro is at the front of the queue to join the EU, and the European Commission seriously expects that the accession treaty will be wrapped up this calendar year and full membership will take effect some time in 2028. It’s quite an achievement for a small country.
