“We look at Montenegro as our main and closest neighbor, a sovereign state that we accept as a result of the will of its citizens, and that topic is over. The questioning and somnolent foolishness of the radicals and their rusty spoons are over. The future is coming full of respect, equality and equal relations, and we will solve all problems with people who have the support and legitimacy of the citizens of Montenegro,” says Borko Stefanović, vice-president of the Freedom and Justice Party in an interview with Victory. He assesses that the relations between the two countries are now at their lowest point because the image of Montenegro entering the EU is unbearable for the corrupt regime in Serbia. He criticizes those EU leaders who, after the landing on Tivat and attempts to destabilize Montenegro, embraced and praised Vučić, showing hypocrisy and a transactional relationship based on lucrative interests
European leaders said that numerous reforms are ahead of Serbia, but they are not being implemented. Why did Aleksandar Vučić go to Tivat?
Stefanović: It is important for the EU that the central state of the Balkans is not excluded from the largest diplomatic meeting in our region for a long period of time, regardless of the fact that everyone knows what kind of government it is. Unfortunately, the usurper Vučić is still representing Serbia, he won’t be for long, he received a call and direct pressure from Ursula von der Leyen that he had to appear – then he wanted to use it to create a circus, as he always does, and that should not surprise anyone.
On the domestic and international level, he made a series of disastrous moves, and because of them, people see Vučić as someone who is potentially dangerous for everyone around him. They think that he will be better if they cut him some slack and shut up, but that will never happen. I am sorry that the price of this concession is paid by the citizens of Serbia, who, apart from the European path, have no other way to lead them to peace, stability, free institutions and a normal life – this is the only way for Serbia and the region to get out of the mire of radicalism.
Is the landing of criminals in Montenegro a consequence of Serbia’s internal instability, which began with the fall of the canopy in 2024?
Stefanović: That’s right. Vučić would like to show that he is the alleged master of the region, that he decides on peace and unrest in the region. The landing was also carried out to divert attention from Milić and the Senjak case, massive corruption and the fact that the mafia has completely merged with the ruling party in Serbia. But all that is connected with Vučić’s need to be important at the summit in Tivat because he cannot bear to be unimportant. He has serious problems, affairs and behaves destructively not only towards the citizens of Serbia, which he pushed to the last place in the region in terms of salaries and pensions, but among the top three places in Europe in terms of corruption.
Why did Aleksandar Vulin’s idea of the Serbian world fall apart?
Stefanovic: The idea of a Serbian world or integralism or similar radical shenanigans from the 90s was initially impossible, senseless and harmful. The radicals who are now called progressives in Serbia are all the political children of Vojislav Šešelj and his politics of blood and soil, black scarves and the destruction of everything. They dreamed of the borders of Karlovac – Karlobag – Ogulin – Virovitica, but wherever the radicals stepped, there are no more Serbs. The idea of a Serbian world has two segments: that all Serbs in the region should be controlled from Belgrade and that all Serbs in the region should worship Aleksandar Vučić. It is a policy based on ethnic centralism and the destruction of Serbia and its citizens, and that idea has long been defeated, but that does not mean that Vulin and Vučić will not continue to try to destabilize the region. Vučić came to power promising Angela Merkel that he would bring stability and progress to Serbia, and in 14 years he turned it into the most unstable and unsafe place where his regime brutally implements massive corruption, stifling all freedom, beating citizens, arresting without grounds. He needs Serbia to be isolated so that they can continue to rob, and the interest of the citizens of Serbia is a European Serbia because nothing else essentially can pull Serbia and the region out of the clutches of crime, misery and general corruption.
What do you say about the constant attacks by the media and leaders of the Serbian government on Andrija Mandić, the speaker of the parliament?
Stefanović: The issues concerning the Montenegrin government and the decisions of the citizens of Montenegro are internal issues, and Aleksandar Vučić and his regime are trying everything: to destabilize not only Montenegro but the entire region and are at odds with everyone. Vučić cannot bear for Montenegro to join the EU because he does not want to bring Serbia into the EU, and that is why he is ready for any arrangement just to stop this matter. The image of the closest neighboring country of Montenegro joining the EU is unbearable for him and his corrupt regime.
All the pressure and brokering around Montenegro is carried out solely with the aim of Vučić staying in power and continuing his policy of arson in the region, compromising Serbia and putting it in a very bad international position. This is the nature of a regime that is associated with organized crime, massive corruption and the harassment and arrest of its own opposition citizens and students.
Vučić transfers the story of crime in Serbia to Montenegro, even though on May 12 there was a mafia murder in Belgrade in which the head of the Belgrade police was involved?
Stefanovic: It’s a two-way street. Serbia and Montenegro, as two neighboring countries, should start talking guided by their own interests, closeness and common European goal, and that in the dialogue and our individual decisions there is no place for criminals who will make decisions instead of citizens. Vučić’s attempt to count who sent more criminals where is the true radical face of a radical arsonist. Everything is happening in the shadow of an unprecedented scandal with the head of the Belgrade police who witnessed a serious crime and apparently participated in covering up the tracks. In a situation where there are no people responsible for 16 deaths under the canopy of the Vučić contract, secret agreements with China. Montenegro and Serbia need to fight crime, but in Serbia, the progressive regime has erased any border between organized crime and the government.
How does the EU view crime in Serbia?
Stefanovic: Very unfavorable and the EU is completely clear that there is no progress until the conditions are met: the rule of law, the fight against corruption, freedom and democracy, the formation of the REM, the implementation of the election conditions from the ODHIR recommendations… The EU is clearly telling Serbia and the entire region that it is great news that Montenegro is on the threshold of joining the EU. The Franco-German plan is also a good one, which in no way excludes and is not a substitute for full membership in the EU, but it is clear that the stages of access will bring very concrete benefits to citizens.
Vučić does not want to join the EU because it means responsibility, a free judiciary, independent media, no corruption and theft in elections, and if we come close to that, he cannot be in power. The EU is not satisfied with Serbia, but that is overshadowed when some European officials pay their respects, hug and praise Vučić for being a heavy blow to the future of Serbia and the entire region. I am thinking of statements like President Macron’s, where it is not mentioned that Serbia must fulfill the conditions and allow its own citizens to freely choose whoever they want in the elections…
In the context of any progress, it is hypocritical to praise a man who carries out a brutal landing and attempts to destabilize Montenegro. We have been dealing with hypocrisy for a long time. In the European Commission, there are very influential circles of individuals from influential governments of EU countries who think that their economic interests achieved with Vučić are personal and that the benefits of those contracts will last forever. It does not suit them that we get rid of the autocrat and the mafia in power in Serbia. We will not give up and all contracts will be public, especially those with China.
