Montenegro’s cabinet voted unanimously, and Macedonia’s parliament by a substantial majority, to recognise Kosovo as independent. The steps, both taken on October 9 2008, were expected to set Podgorica and Skopje on a collision course with Serbia, from which Kosovo declared independence in February 2008.

The developments came a day after Serbia won a symbolic victory by winning a vote in the United Nations General Assembly to refer the question of Kosovo’s independence to the International Court of Justice, and on the same day that Serbia’s cabinet decided to reinstate all its ambassadors to foreign capitals from which it withdrew them in protest at their countries’ recognising Kosovo as independent.

With the United States and several European Union states having taken the lead soon after Pristina unilaterally seceded from Serbia, the number of states now deeming Kosovo to be independent is close to 50.

Serbian news agency Beta reported from Podgorica that the leader of Montenegrin opposition party the Serb People’s Party, Andrija Mandic, said that the opposition would now “consult the people” about the government’s decision.

“We will consult the people and the people will help us to have its majority will on this issue taken into account,” Mandic was quoted as saying.

Politicians from Serbia’s opposition parties said that Belgrade should consider sanctions against Montenegro and blamed the government for allowing relations with the neighbouring state that formerly was joined with Serbia in a post-Yugoslavian “state union”, into disrepair.

The Macedonian parliament began a debate on the issue on October 9 after two ethnic Albanian parties, the Democratic Party of Albanians and the Democratic Union for Integration, collected MPs’ signatures in support of a petition for a parliamentary debate.

In debate, some opposition MPs warned that recognition by Macedonia of Kosovo would prejudice relations between Belgrade and Kosovo.

Bulgarian news agency Focus, quoting AFP, said that the outcome of the voting was 85 votes for and one against, while 16 MPs out of 105 present at the session abstained.
The Macedonian government was expected to formally recognise Kosovo as an independent state within hours after the end of the sitting of parliament, a source from Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's cabinet was quoted as saying.

There was extensive media coverage in morning papers in Kosovo as the decisions from Montenegro and Macedonia were awaited.

In its front-page lead on October 9, Kosovo daily Express said that Macedonia and Montenegro were expected to recognise the independence of Kosovo that day. The paper said that by so doing, two neighbouring countries would kill Serbia’s resolution in the UN General Assembly and send the message that new recognitions of Kosovo’s independence would not stop.

The paper said that recognitions by Macedonia and Montenegro were very important because they were neighbouring countries, had good relations with Serbia and were also constituent members of the former Yugoslavia.

Kosovo daily newspapers also reported that Slovakia and Romania, two of the most sceptical EU and Nato countries on the question of Kosovo’s independence, had recognised the passports of the country that they do not recognise. Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci announced the news after the regular meeting of the country’s cabinet in Pristina on October 8.

The moves by Montenegro and Macedonia were widely reported as being made under pressure from some influential Western countries, especially because the two countries aspire to EU membership and see recognition of Kosovo as a box to be checked along the way.

News agency Reuters reported Russia’s ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr Konuzin, as saying that Montenegro and Macedonia were “being blackmailed by certain states which threaten to make problems for their European integration.

“Montenegro and Macedonia are under the strongest external pressure which is aimed at forcing these two countries to recognise the so-called independence of Kosovo,” Konuzin was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Beta reported from Belgrade that the Serbian government said that its decision to reinstate its ambassadors to all countries from which they had been withdrawn in protest at those countries recognition of Kosovo was made “in order to continue with diplomatic activities aimed at preserving sovereignty and integrity”.