The post-Communist-era reorganization of Europe continues — continuing to remind Europe of an unpleasant fact, as The Christian Science Monitor notes:
PODGORICA, MONTENEGRO; AND PARIS – The joyful fireworks and street parties that exploded in the streets of Podgorica on Sunday night, as Montenegrins celebrated a vote in favor of independence, found few echoes Monday in other European capitals.
Europe’s lack of enthusiasm for the imminent birth of a new nation on the shores of the Adriatic is prompted by its unease at seeing another small Balkan state emerge on its edges, reminding the EU of its failure to prevent the breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
What’s happening now (and in other ways) is a classic example of how instant-analysis and conventional wisdom can become quickly outdated. Conceptually, Europe was supposed to be a lot more effective than this in the post-Communist era. Montenegro will be a constant reminder of that. MORE:
“There is a feeling of reluctance at having yet another country to deal with,” says Nicholas Whyte, European program director at the International Crisis Group.
The last of five Balkan republics to break away from Serbia, Montenegro’s vote is also seen as a harbinger of Kosovo’s independence.
“Kosovo is on its way to independence,” Kosovo president Fatmir Sejdiu said in a message of congratulations to Montenegro, where official preliminary results gave pro-independence forces in this tiny mountainous Balkan state 55.4 per cent of the vote – marginally above the 55 percent majority that the EU had demanded for recognition of the new country. At press time, about 5 percent of the vote was still to be counted.
The results were met with grudging acceptance from the EU’s foreign policy chief Javier Solana. “It seems that the process was orderly and we have to congratulate everybody for that,” he said. “We will fully respect the results of the referendum.”
That sounds about as enthusiastic as the reaction of American Idol‘s judges to the results of viewer polling on the fate of some key contestants on the mega-hit Fox TV Show.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.