The municipalities of Zeta and Pljevlja adopted declarations rejecting recognition of Kosovo's independence. The initiative was supposed to roll on through Montenegro like dominoes. In Niksic it stopped - and not because of the opposition, but because of Mayor Marko Kovacevic, a man from Andrija Mandic's party.

When it is the ally applying the brakes

Kovacevic refused to back the initiative. Niksic is not just any municipality - it is the city that for years has been considered the pro-Serbian bloc's safest stronghold in Montenegro. If the declaration cannot get a majority there, then the problem is not in the numbers, it is in who no longer wants the same thing.

Milan Knezevic, leader of the Democratic People's Party, said openly that the goal is for the initiative to move through Montenegro's municipalities, „because the people never accepted that decision”, and to eventually put a binding resolution before the government.

A split that was long in the making

Knezevic and Mandic were for years the pair that held the coalition together. Today one demands a resolution, the other stays silent or applies the brakes through his own people. Knezevic's side describes Mandic's conduct as a complete reversal of his earlier line in the Democratic Front.

The difference between opposition and government is simple and old: while you are on the outside, recognition of Kosovo is a question of identity. Once you are inside the institutions, it becomes an item in a negotiating folder. Mandic is now Speaker of Parliament. That chair has its own gravity.

And the ambassador, of course

Knezevic accused EU ambassador Johann Sattler of pressuring parliament and threatening to withdraw support if the withdrawals of recognition continued. The accusation has not been confirmed by the other side, but its very appearance in the public debate is part of a script the region knows well.

In Montenegro, the EU race is the real currency - it brings money, dates and legitimacy. Declarations on Kosovo bring applause at a rally. When the two collide in the same hall, the one that pays usually wins.

Would it be any different here? The question is not rhetorical at anyone's expense - it is the same dilemma every government in the Balkans meets when what was promised to voters collides with what is required in Brussels. The only difference is how long the answer can be postponed.