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Montenegro Reacts to Serb Citizenship Law

25 09 2007  Belgrade, Podgorica_ Serbia’s parliament has adopted amendments to the law on citizenship, triggering different reactions by Montenegro`s politicians.

The Social Democratic Party, SDP, of Montenegro, which was a strong supporter of the separation from Serbia, said on Monday that the amending of the Serbian Law on citizenship was an attempt to put political pressure on Montenegro.

“Montenegrins who take Serbian citizenship will be barred from the right to Montenegrin citizenship. Dual citizenship is a matter for discussion and agreement between states, and this [unilateral] step by Serbia will not be a good incentive to improving our relations”, SDP spokesperson Rasko Konjevic said.

But, Montenegro’s pro-Belgrade opposition group, the Serb List, hailed the Serbian parliament’s decision, stating that its members will be the first to request Serbian citizenship.

Under the new provisions, Montenegrin citizens who were registered as residents in Serbia on June 3, 2006 - when Montenegro ended its union with Serbia - will be considered Serbian citizens, provided they submit written documentation stating that they consider themselves to be Serbian citizens, together with a request for their names to be entered into the citizens’ register.

The current Montenegrin law on citizenship, which is being discussed as part of the continuing negotiations on a new constitution, stipulates that people who take the citizenship of another country must renounce their Montenegrin citizenship.

Since the end of the union of Serbia and Montenegro the issue of citizenship has created a controversy in both successor-countries.

Montenegrin citizens who at the time of Montenegro’s proclamation of independence were not registered as resident in Serbia, can get Serbian citizenship through a simplified procedure that applies to all ethnic Serb citizens of the successor-states of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Applicants who wish to acquire Serbian citizenship, without renouncing their own, need to meet several requirements, including being over the age of eighteen and being able to work.

Prior to submitting an application, they have to sign a statement declaring that they accept Serbia as their own country, according to the amendments to the law, adopted on Monday.