The municipality of Niksic has rejected an initiative by the Democratic People’s Party (DNP), which sought the adoption of a declaration on the withdrawal of Montenegro’s recognition of Kosovo. The municipal authorities stressed that such a decision does not fall within the competence of the local government.
The mayor of Niksic, Marko Kovacevic, from the New Serbian Democracy (NSD), stated that the municipality has never recognized Kosovo, therefore there is no recognition that can be withdrawn. The proposal was submitted by the DNP, led by Milan Knežević.
The party’s councilors requested that the Municipal Assembly adopt a political declaration, opposing Montenegro’s 2008 decision to recognize Kosovo.
In the text of the initiative, that decision was described as being taken “against the will of the majority of citizens,” while Kosovo was described as “an inseparable part of Serbia.” However, the NSD rejected the proposal, recalling that the recognition or non-recognition of states is the exclusive responsibility of state institutions and not of municipalities.
The party stressed that it had held the same position in 2012, when it rejected a similar initiative. According to it, efforts to address the issue of Kosovo’s recognition at the local level have no legal basis. “Even then, just like today, we emphasized that this is not the competence of local self-government.
Those who think that municipalities have recognized Kosovo and now should withdraw that recognition can continue with such initiatives, but this will not happen in Niksic,” the NSD’s response states.
Meanwhile, according to the Montenegrin newspaper Pobjeda , representatives of the European Union have sent unofficial warnings to the Montenegrin authorities that any initiative to withdraw recognition of Kosovo could negatively affect the country’s European integration process. However, there has been no official reaction from the EU so far.
This case has highlighted differences within pro-Serb parties in Montenegro regarding how to handle the Kosovo issue, despite their traditionally close positions.