A crucial census in Montenegro could strengthen the demands of the Serbian minority. Reporting from Podgorica, the country’s capital.
A crucial census begins in Montenegro on December 3, during which the population will declare their community membership. A significant minority of the approximately 600,000 inhabitants of the Adriatic Republic could declare themselves Serbian. According to official figures, Montenegrins represent 45% of the population and Serbs almost 28%.
Nikola Rakočević, is a deputy, member of the Montenegrin nationalist party: “Mr. Vučić (President of Serbia) said on television that the census in Montenegro is one of the key issues for the vital interest of Serbia, imagine this statement, imagine if before a census in Serbia, a president Croatian or Montenegrin would say the same thing about their minorities in Serbia. It would be strange to say the least.”
Belgrade’s propaganda puts pressure on local Serbs to identify themselves. Other communities are very worried.
“Along the roads of the sea coast, billboards promoting Serbian identity have been placed. Authorities in Montenegro believe that more than 50% of citizens will report speaking the Serbian language, which could bring the Serbian language back to schools and in official usage in this country”analyzes Slaven Dimitrić of Euronews Serbia.
In Montenegro, Serbian is commonly used. Language is therefore not a criterion for defining identity.
“Those who were against the independence referendum in 2006 are in power and they are forcing the census as an opportunity to strengthen their arguments and try to influence the change of the constitutional-legal category and the position of the language and Serbian nationality”, judge Miroslav Doderović, professor at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Podgorica.
Montenegro abandoned federation with Serbia in 2006. In 2023, a new majority swept away, after an election, the Montenegrin nationalists who had been in power since independence.
