Forgotten World (213): Montenegro
Montenegro emerged as a sovereign state in Europe after just over 55% of the population opted for independence in a May 2006 referendum. The vote heralded the end of the former Union of Serbia and Montenegro – itself created only three years earlier out of the remnant of the former Yugoslavia.
The EU-brokered deal of 2003 was intended to stabilise the region by settling Montenegrin demands for independence from Serbia and preventing further changes to Balkan borders. However, the same deal contained the seeds of the union’s dissolution. It stipulated that after three years the two republics could hold referendums on whether to keep or scrap it. Montenegro opted for the latter.
Montenegro last experienced independence nearly 90 years earlier when it was absorbed into the newly-formed Yugoslavia at the end of World War I. Today it has a population of less than 700,000 but hopes to join the European Union soon.