Montenegro has a new president, replacing the strongman Đukanović, whose party held sway for three decades and whose abuse of power led the country to be designated a hybrid regime instead of a democracy.
Montenegro is part of the Balkans, bordered by Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea. It formally became a member of NATO and has been in negotiations to join the EU since 2012, with 2025 being the putative date of entry. It is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, and the Central European Free Trade Agreement.
‘Montenegro has historically stood at the crossroads of multiculturalism and over centuries this has shaped its unique co-existence between Muslim and Christian populations. Despite tensions between religious groups during the Bosnian War, Montenegro remained fairly stable, mainly due to its population’s perspective on religious tolerance and faith diversity.’ (wiki)
The new President Jakov Milatovic, 7 December 1986, Milatović, who campaigned on a pro-EU and anti-corruption platform, won around 60 percent of the vote in the presidential runoff according to local pollsters.
He was sworn in on 20 May 2023 at 12.24pm Podgorica, and faces a challenging term. There is a last degree Taurus Sun on the focal point of a mini-Grand Trine of Mars in Cancer trine Neptune. That will be under a frustrating, trapped, somewhat risky tr Pluto opposition the Mars in 2023/4 and then there is a disruptive tr Uranus conjunct the Sun in 2025. There is also a high-octane and perhaps overly forceful T square of Pluto opposition Mars square Jupiter North Node in Taurus so he will have luck but over confidence may trip him up.
He is a serious though changeable Sun, Saturn and Uranus in Sagittarius with his Sun Saturn square an exuberant Mars Jupiter in Pisces. Plus he has a persuasively charming Pluto Venus in Scorpio.
Montenegro independence was proclaimed 3 June 2006 8.28pm Podgorica, which gives a Gemini Sun on the cusp of the 7th = keen on cooperating with neighbours. But the Sun squares onto a Moon opposition Uranus so settling down to alliances and committed relationships won’t be easy. Plus there is an exceptionally difficult Mars conjunct Saturn in the 8th house square Venus opposition Jupiter – a country where frivolity and darkness sit side by side and where the ancestral past weights heavily on present events.
The Mars in the country chart is the same degree of Cancer as it is on Milatovic’s Presidency chart – suggesting a tough, financially frustrating two years ahead as tr Pluto opposes the Mars – and a challenging few years thereafter as tr Pluto moves to oppose the Saturn.
Milo Dukanovic, the ousted president, who had been at the top as prime minister or president for decades, tunes into the darker side of Montenegro. Born 15 February 1962 6.55am Niksic, he has an emphasized Saturn, Mercury, Mars in Aquarius on the focal point of a Yod inconjunct Pluto and a Cancer Moon – might makes right, cold, determined. He also has a Sun Jupiter in Aquarius opposition Uranus in Leo – very Fixed. The not-so-humanitarian, light-and-love-to-all facet of Aquarius – in negative aspect it can be obsessive, fanatical, extreme in its views.
This is encouraging to read. I’m very happy Jakov Milatovic won the election in Montenegro – he sounds like a very progressive minded individual who move the country forward.
I’m relieved Montenegro is already a NATO member…but was hoping they could join the EU a bit sooner.
In 2006, Montenegro made the best decision ever to dissolve that union they had with Zerbia (I mean, Serbia).
Now, the West needs to do more to support Kosovo and the Indigenous ethnic Albanians and ethnic Goranis who live there.
You also forget to mention that the majority of people speak serbian and feel serbs. Do you think is it possible for Montenegro to reunite with Serbia in the near future?
Thank you so, so much for this!
Well… I really was wondering how this will all pan out. The enthusiasm seems there, hope for a better future, yet also something telling that a fairy tale is a fairy tale and this is going to quickly turn into a wake-up call. Old ways are difficult to dissolve.
There are already murmurs that some promises – higher salaries and pensions – of the new popular party will not be able to be fulfilled unless people stop funding the national health insurance. So they are postponing that plan.
This seems like it will be an uphill climb in more ways than one, and just when someone thought he or she got out, there’s something to pull you back where you were. Endless. Same old, same old repeating, with some advancement, but in the end not really getting anywhere much.
Pity for such a small and gorgeous state that could fairly easily, as a smaller system, get into the EU with the right plan and determinatiom, but the end goal seems out of reach. For now, it seems. All of which, now that I remind myself of it, your title, as always, aptly describes.
(That map, weirdly, omits quite a few national parks.)