Montenegro

Montenegro is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia and the disputed entity of Kosovo to the north and east, and Albania to the south. Its capital and largest city is Podgorica, while Cetinje is designated as the former Royal Capital City.

Montenegro is a member of the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Council of Europe and Montenegro is also a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean. It is also a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and NATO

A sovereign principality since the Late Middle Ages, Montenegro saw its independence from the Ottoman Empire formally recognized in 1878. From 1918, it was a part of various incarnations of Yugoslavia. On the basis of a referendum held on 21 May 2006, Montenegro declared independence on 3 June. On 28 June 2006, it became the 192nd member state of the United Nations, and on 11 May 2007 the 47th member state of the Council of Europe. On 15 December 2008, Montenegro presented its official application to the European Union, with the hopes of gaining EU candidate status by 2009.

Geography

Internationally, Montenegro borders Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, and Albania. Historically, its territory was divided into "nahije".Montenegro ranges from high peaks along its borders with Serbia and Albania, a segment of the Karst of the western Balkan Peninsula, to a narrow coastal plain that is only one to four miles (6 km) wide. The plain stops abruptly in the north, where Mount Lovćen and Mount Orjen plunge abruptly into the inlet of the Bay of Kotor.

Montenegro's large Karst region lies generally at elevations of 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) above sea level; some parts, however, rise to 2,000 metres (6,560 ft), such as Mount Orjen (1,894 m/6,214 ft), the highest massif among the coastal limestone ranges. The Zeta River valley, at an elevation of 500 meters (1,640 ft), is the lowest segment.

The mountains of Montenegro include some of the most rugged terrain in Europe. They average more than 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) in elevation. One of the country's notable peaks is Bobotov Kuk in the Durmitor mountains, which reaches a height of 2,522 metres (8,274 ft). The Montenegrin mountain ranges were among the most ice-eroded parts of the Balkan Peninsula during the last glacial period.

Longest beach: Velika Plaža, Ulcinj — 13,000 m (8 miles)

Highest peak: Zla Kolata, Prokletije at 2,534 m

Largest lake: Skadar Lake — 391 km² (151 sq mi) of surface area

Deepest canyon: Tara River Canyon — 1,300 m (4,265 ft)

Biggest bay: Bay of Kotor

National parks: Durmitor — 390 km² (150 sq mi), Lovćen — 64 km² (25 sq mi), Biogradska Gora — 54 km² (21 sq mi), Skadar Lake — 400 km² (154 sq mi)

UNESCO World Heritage sites: Durmitor and Tara River Canyon, old city of Kotor.

Government and politics

Montenegro is defined as a "Civic, democratic, ecological and state of social justice, based on the reign of Law". It is an independent and sovereign Republic. It proclaimed its new Constitution on 22 October 2007.

Government

The current Government of Montenegro (Vlada Crne Gore) is composed of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministers as well as ministers. Milo Đukanović is the Prime Minister of Montenegro and head of the Government. The ruling party in Montenegro ever since multi-party system was introduced is the controversial Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) (Demokratska Partija Socijalista Crna Gore), in coalition with the much smaller Social Democratic Party of Montenegro (SDP) (Socijaldemokratska Partija Crne Gore).

President

The President of Montenegro is elected for a period of five years through direct elections. According to the constitution, the President will represent the republic in the country and abroad, promulgate laws by ordinance, call elections for the Parliament, propose candidates for the Prime Minister, president and justices of the Constitutional Court to the Parliament, propose to the Parliament calling of a referendum, grant amnesty for criminal offences prescribed by the national law, confer decoration and awards, and perform all other duties in accordance with the Constitution. The President shall also be a member of the Supreme Defence Council.

Parliament

The Montenegrin Parliament (Skupština Crne Gore) passes all laws in Montenegro, ratifies international treaties, appoints the Prime Minister, ministers, and justices of all courts, adopts the budget and performs other duties as established by the Constitution. The Parliament can pass a vote of no-confidence on the Government by a majority of the members. One representative is elected per 6,000 voters, which in turn results in a reduction of total number of representatives in the Parliament of Montenegro. The current president of the Parliament is Ranko Krivokapić.

The present parliament contains 81 seats instead of 75 in the previous parliament. Parliamentary elections were held on 10 September 2006 and were the first since the proclamation of independence. The constituent parliamentary session took place on 2 October 2006.

Symbols

A new official flag of Montenegro was adopted on July 13, 2004, by the Montenegrin legislature. The new flag is based on the royal standard of King Nikola I of Montenegro. This flag was all red with a silver border, a silver coat of arms, and the initials НІ in Cyrillic script (corresponding to NI in Latin script) representing King Nikola I. The border and arms were changed from silver to gold in the modern flag and the royal cypher in the centre of the arms are omitted from the modern arms and replaced with a golden lion.

The national day of 13 July marks the date in 1878 when the Congress of Berlin recognised Montenegro as the 27th independent state in the world and the start of one of the first popular uprisings in Europe against the Axis Powers on 13 July 1941 in Montenegro.

In 2004, the Montenegrin legislature selected a popular Montenegrin traditional song, Oh, Bright Dawn of May, as the national anthem. Montenegro's official anthem during the reign of King Nikola was Ubavoj nam Crnoj Gori (To our beautiful Montenegro). The Montenegrin popular anthem has unofficially been Onamo, 'namo! since King Nikola I wrote it in the 1860s.

Economy

During the era of communism Montenegro experienced a rapid period of urbanization and industrialization. An industrial sector based on electricity generation, steel, aluminium, coal mining, forestry and wood processing, textiles and tobacco manufacture were built up, with trade, overseas shipping, and particularly tourism, increasingly important by the late 1980s.

The loss of previously guaranteed markets and suppliers after the breakup of Yugoslavia left the Montenegrin industrial sector reeling as production was suspended and the privatization program, begun in 1989, was interrupted. The disintegration of the Yugoslav market, and the imposition of the UN sanctions in May 1992 were the causes of the greatest economic and financial crisis since World War II. During 1993, two thirds of the Montenegrin population lived below the poverty line, while frequent interruptions in relief supplies caused the health and environmental protection to drop below the minimum of international standards. The financial losses under the adverse effects of the UN sanctions on the overall economy of Montenegro are estimated to be approximately $6.39 billion. This period also experienced the second highest hyperinflation in history (3 million percent in January 1994) (The highest hyperinflation happened in Hungary after the end of World War II, when inflation there hit 4.19 x 10 percent).

In 1997, Milo Đukanović took control over the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) and began severing ties with Milošević's Serbia. He blamed the policies of Slobodan Milošević for the overall decline of the Montenegrin economy, as well as Milošević's systematic persecution of non-Serbs. Montenegro introduced the German mark as response to again-growing inflation, and insisted on taking more control over its economic fate. This eventually resulted in creation of Serbia and Montenegro, a loose union in which Montenegro mostly took responsibility for its economic policies.

This was followed by implementation of faster and more efficient privatization, passing of reform laws, introduction of VAT and usage of Euro as Montenegro's legal tender.

Tourism

Montenegro is well suited for development of all kinds of tourism, as it both has picturesque coast and mountainous northern region. The country was a well-known tourist spot in the 1980s, yet, the Yugoslav wars that were fought in neighboring countries during the 1990s crippled the tourist industry, and destroyed the image of Montenegro as a tourist destination.

It was not until 2000s that the tourism industry began to recover, and the country has since experienced high growth of number of tourist visits and overnight stays

Government of Montenegro has set the development of Montenegro as an elite tourist destination a top priority. It is a national strategy to make the tourism a major, if not single largest, contributor to Montenegrin economy. A number of steps were taken to attract foreign investors to Montenegrin tourism industry.

Some large projects are already under way, like Porto Montenegro, while locations such as Jaz Beach, Buljarica,Velika Plaža and Ada Bojana have perhaps the greatest potential to attract future investments and become premium tourist spots on Adriatic.

Some of the problems that currently hamper the development of Montenegrin tourism are inadequate infrastructure, notably the road infrastructure in the north, and electricity and water supply in the south of the country. The informal construction is also a problem.

Demographics

According to 2003 census, Montenegro has 620,145 citizens. If the methodology used up to 1991 was used in the 2003 census, Montenegro would officially have 673,094 citizens. Most recent estimates stake somewhere below 700,000 inhabitants.

When the census was taken Montenegro was a non-national civic state. In the meantime, the Constitution was changed, hence it now recognizes the major ethnic groups living in it: Montenegrins, Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians, Muslims and Croats. Ethnic composition according to the 2004 official data.

Most citizens speak the Serbian language of the Iyekavian dialect. However, as of 2004 the moves for an independent Montenegrin language were promoted and with the new 2007 Constitution it became Montenegro's prime official language. Next to it, Serbian, Bosnian, Albanian and Croatian are recognized in usage.

Most Montenegrin inhabitants are Orthodox Christians, followers of the Serbian Orthodox Church's Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. The religious institutions all have guaranteed rights and are separate from the state. There is a sizeable number of Sunni Muslims in Montenegro that maintain their own Islamic Community of Montenegro. There is also a small Roman Catholic population, divided onto the Achdiocese of Antivari headed by Primate of Serbia and the Diocese of Kotor that is a part of the Church of Croatia.

According the newest report, there are 24,610 total refugees from the Yugoslav wars in Montenegro, forming 4.2% of the total population. 16,136 are refugees from Kosovo after 1999 and 8,474 expelled from Croatia and Bosnia.