EUROPEAN DISUNION:

Solana: Montenegro comparisons sign of "delirium tremens" (Spain Herald, 5/23/06)

The European Union's high commissioner for foreign policy and common security (PESC), Spanish Socialist Javier Solana, said yesterday that comparing the situation in Montenegro to that of the Basque Country or Catalonia "is at the verge of delirium tremens." He was responding to Basque regional premier Juan Jose Ibarretxe's statement that the Montenegrin referendum was "the model to follow" for the Basques, after Ibarretxe's participation in a delegation of Basque observers in Podgorica. Catalan separatists ERC announced that they would question the administration in the Congress of Deputies on this issue.

Solana congratulated the people and government of Montenegro on the referendum held on Sunday, and announced that the EU would "completely" respect the results of the election, as it fulfilled the requirements set. He added, "There is no similarity between Montenegro and the Serbian Republic, and any other country that already forms part of Europe."

Except that they're identical.

MORE:
Montenegro vote opens separatist Pandora's box (Calin Neacsu, 23 May 2006, AFP)

Montenegro's independence could open a Pandora's box for other separatist movements in Europe and the former Soviet Union, with some already claiming the right to follow the same path. [...]

Bosnian Serbs have already said Montenegro's independence was a good model to be followed by their entity of Republika Srpska, which, along with the Muslim-Croat Federation, has made up post-war Bosnia.

For those fighting for the independence of the Germanic Tyrol region of Italy, and its annexation to Austria, the outcome of Montenegro's referendum inspired dreams to organise a similar vote.

A senior Russian lawmaker estimated that Montenegro's decision to separate from Serbia would spur debate on the status of Kosovo and could set a "heavy" precedent for other countries with separatist minorities.

Konstantin Kosachev, chairperson of the Russian Parliament's foreign-affairs committee, warned of setting a precedent over Kosovo.

"This will create a precedent heavy with consequences for other regions," he said, citing in particular Turkish northern Cyprus and Spain's Basque separatists.

But even in the former Soviet Union, several regions are hoping to follow the lead of Montenegro. They were unilaterally proclaimed during the bloody conflicts that followed its 1991 collapse and supported by Moscow, but not recognised by the international community.

Among them, the breakaway republics of Transdniestr in Moldova and Abkhazia in Georgia, were the first to say the vote serves as a model of "self-determination".

"One can only welcome such a civilised method for gaining self-determination," said the "president" of Abkhazia, Sergei Bagapch, quoted by Interfax.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 23, 2006 8:47 AM