Djurdjevic Stamenkovski: Status of Serbian language in Montenegro is an issue of constitutional equality

Photo: Tanjug/Sava Radovanovic

Minister of Labor, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs Milica Djurdjevic Stamenkovski says that the issue of the status of the Serbian language in Montenegro is not only a language issue, but one of respect for the democratic will of the citizens, equality before the Constitution, and the right not to be treated like a second-class citizen because of the language you speak.

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"If Montenegro is founded on democracy and the rule of law, then it is time to include in its Constitution what the citizens have clearly expressed during the census - that the Serbian language, which is spoken by the majority of (Montenegrin) citizens, deserves the status of an official language," Djurdjevic Stamenkovski said in a post on Instagram.

She wondered how it is possible that the language (Petar Petrovic) Njegos spoke and wrote in, cannot be an official language in Montenegro today.

Djurdjevic Stamenkovski pointed out that, according to the last population census, the majority of Montenegrin citizens (43.18 percent, i.e. 269,307 people) said that their language is Serbian, and added that if democracy is based on respecting the will of the people, then it is natural to ask why this will is not reflected in the constitutional status of the Serbian language in Montenegro.

"No one is asking for any other language to be abolished or suppressed. We are asking that the language spoken by the majority of citizens has the status that corresponds to the reality and the principle of equality," the minister said.

She pointed out that in North Macedonia, the Albanian language, which is spoken by 25 percent of the population, is fully equal in status with the (North) Macedonian language, while in Montenegro there is no similar mechanism that would ensure full institutional protection of the rights of the majority of citizens, who speak the Serbian language.

On Thursday, members of the Assembly of Montenegro adopted the Draft Amendments XVII to XXI to the Constitution. The proposal to make Serbian an official language was not included.

70 deputies voted to approve the draft as it was, while two MPs from the DNP party voted against it.

DNP deputy Milan Knezevic reiterated that his party will not give up on the demand to include Serbian among the official languages in the Constitution of Montenegro.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)