Brussels/Podgorica, 05 November 2026, dtt-net.com - Tomislav Sokol, a Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP), has expressed serious doubts about whether Montenegro's current governing partners are capable of leading the Western Balkan country to full European Union membership. Sokol raised these concerns regarding the pro-Serbian party led by the Speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament, Andrija Mandic. Mandic is known to be close to former Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, while openly glorifying the late "Butcher of Bosnia," Ratko Mladic. Mladic was sentenced to life imprisonment by a UN court for the Srebrenica Genocide and for war crimes committed against Croatian civilians during the Western Balkan conflicts of the early 1990s. "The pro-Serbian ruling majority in Montenegro cannot bring the country into the European Union," MEP Sokol declared in a press release following a debate with the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos. The exchange took place during Kos's presentation of the annual EU enlargement package to the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET). During his intervention, the Croatian lawmaker warned of severe political fractures in Montenegro, asserting that a ruling majority which tolerates the glorification of war criminals cannot credibly steer the nation toward EU integration.
Sokol acknowledged that Montenegro has made the most significant advancement among all candidate states, but cautioned that positive institutional assessments are masking systemic flaws that directly challenge the coalition’s alignment with core European principles.
“I understand that the European Commission needs a success story and that Montenegro is a logical choice because it has indeed made the most progress of all the candidate countries. However, we cannot ignore the serious problems that still exist. One of the biggest is the fact that the President of the Montenegrin Parliament, whose party is a key part of the ruling coalition, openly glorifies war criminals, while enjoying the support of the Prime Minister’s party,” Sokol warned.
He pointed to Prime Minister Milojko Spajic’s party, the Europe Now! Movement (PES), noting its full defence of Mandic during an opposition-led impeachment attempt as a deeply problematic development given Mandic’s open praise of war criminals.
“When the issue of impeaching the Speaker of the Assembly was raised in the Montenegrin parliament, the Prime Minister’s party gave him full support, and this support was coordinated by Aleksandar Vučić, and probably also people close to Viktor Orbán,” Sokol stated.
Addressing Commissioner Kos directly, Sokol questioned if such a governing majority could honestly close out accession negotiations and successfully secure EU integration.
“Do you think that such a majority can bring Montenegro into the European Union? Isn’t this an issue of fundamental European values? I don’t see how the ruling pro-Serbian majority that glorifies war criminals can successfully complete accession negotiations and secure Montenegro’s membership in the European Union,” Sokol argued.
In response, Commissioner Kos sought to draw a clear line between the state of Montenegro, its general population, and Mandic, despite the fact that Spajic’s PES and other coalition partners successfully blocked the dismissal motion put forward by the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and other opposition factions, including Bosniak and Albanian MPs.
“…about the statement of the Speaker of the Parliament… Montenegro is not the same as Speaker of the Parliament. When one person is saying and glorifying war criminal… this was not okay, this was wrong. We can’t say that all the citizens of Montenegro are glorifying or that the whole government is glorifying and they have had a vote of confidence in the parliament and this was the indecision of their parliament that he is still in that position,” Kos stated.
Andrija Mandic, who denies the Srebrenica Genocide and consistently glorifies Ratko Mladic, the Serb commander convicted of the slaughter of more than 8,000 Bosniak civilians in July 1995, retained his position by surviving the September 13 dismissal motion. He secured his seat through backing from PES, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Becic’s Democrats, and three pro-Serbian parties spanning both the government and opposition benches.
In the final tally of the 81-seat Parliament, 41 lawmakers voted against Mandic’s removal, while 37 voted in favour out of the 78 members participating.
