The international conference “Montenegro twenty years later – between promises and expectations” will be held on Thursday, May 7 and Friday, May 8 at Hotel Podgorica, organized by the office of the Heinrich Bell Foundation in Belgrade and the Center for Geopolitics from Podgorica. The meeting will bring together historians, political scientists, former diplomats and ministers, journalists and civil society representatives from Montenegro, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and the wider region in the capital.
The conference starts on Thursday at 6 pm, and Gert Rerborn, director of the office of the Heinrich Bell Foundation in Belgrade, and Adnan Prekić, historian, university professor and co-founder of the Center for Geopolitics, will speak at the opening.
After the introductory speeches, the first panel will follow, which relies on the direct and indirect experiences of political actors who shaped or lived through the crucial years of Montenegrin statehood. Former President of Serbia Boris Tadić, former President of the Parliament of Montenegro Ranko Krivokapić and former Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia Vesna Pusić will participate, while the moderator will be Adnan Prekić.
On the second day, Friday, May 8, the program begins at 10 a.m. with the panel “Twenty Years Later: Reinterpreting the Recent Past,” which will discuss how historians and scholars in the region interpret the referendum two decades after it was held. Dragutin Papović, Milivoj Bešlin, Petar Đukanović and Sead Turčalo will speak, while the moderator will be Zvezdana Kovač.
Followed by the panel “EU and NATO integration: the chosen path or the path ahead?” which examines the essence, pace and conditions of Montenegrin Euro-Atlantic integration: what has been achieved, where there is still a gap in credibility and what the current moment, in which EU membership is within realistic reach, requires from Montenegrin institutions and society. Participants: Gordana Đurović, Stefan Surlić, Jovana Marović and Nedžma Džananović Miraščija, and the moderator is Sajma Ademović.
In the afternoon part of the program, from 2:15 p.m., the panel “Between civic and national: identity, religion and political community” will be held, which brings together scholars who deal with political behavior, nationalism, political philosophy and theory to examine how identity politics shapes political culture and what civic frameworks can offer in response. The participants are Olivera Komar, Šaćir Filandra, Vujo Ilić and Nikoleta Đukanović, while the moderator will be Srđan Hercigonja.
The conference will be concluded with a plenary session where key conclusions will be summarized and recommendations for further political and social development of Montenegro in the context of regional and European integration will be discussed.
“On May 21, 2026, Montenegro will mark twenty years since the independence referendum of 2006 – the result decided by a majority of 55.5%. The anniversary comes at a moment of authentic, albeit hard-earned, momentum. After years of stagnation in reforms, Montenegro has reasserted itself as a leader in the process of joining the European Union in the Western Balkans, with more intensive engagement in the chapters related to the rule of law and a renewed political dedication to her European journey”, it was stated in the announcement of the conference.
As pointed out, membership in NATO, achieved in 2017, further strengthened the Euro-Atlantic orientation of the country, but still, the anniversary calls for sobering reflection.
“The two decades of independence have been marked by deep tensions: the decades-long dominance of Milo Đukanović and the DPS, the political crises and instability that followed after 2020, and the consolidation of pro-Serbian and pro-Russian political forces as significant electoral actors. Questions of national identity, as well as the instrumentalization of historical narratives, continue to shape a deeply polarized public sphere,” the organizers emphasize.
The goal of the conference, as they point out, is to establish a common analytical framework for understanding the development path of Montenegro, which can inform future program activities, political engagement and public communication throughout the Western Balkans.
