Seeking rapid eu membership. But could regional instability and outside meddling thwart his ambition . President jakov milatovic, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you for having me. Its a great pleasure to have you. You have made it quite clear your overriding political ambition and aim is to get montenegro into the eu within the next five years. But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I
But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I think that montenegro has been negotiating with the eu for the last ten years. We have been, out of all the candidate countries, the frontrunner. Montenegro is the only country without any big problems with their neighbours in the western balkans, which is a rare thing in our region. As i understand it, right now, montenegro is negotiating a
But its not going well, is it . Exactly. I think that that is why i have entered montenegrin politics a few years ago, to bring the country to the eu, and this is what i am doing on a daily basis, pushing for it. I think that all the good things are not easy. And in that way, we are trying our best. But pushing for it is one thing, promising your people that within a term a five year term you can deliver it is quite another. And surely you have made a promise that you cant keep. No, thats not really true. I think that we can keep the promise and i think that having montenegro into the eu within the next five years is a very realistic thing to do. I think that montenegro has been negotiating with the eu for the last ten years. We have been, out of all the candidate countries, the frontrunner. Montenegro is the only country without any big problems with their neighbours in the western balkans, which is a rare thing in our region. As i understand it, right now, montenegro is negotiating a
the past holds the present hostage not just the survivors, who bear physical scars, but a country s mental trauma. one positive, today s parents don t want to put their children through a repeat of their own suffering. every anniversary, they commemorate the children who were killed in the snow. it s never easy. this year the talk of new violence made it worse. this man s seven year old son died in his arms. translation: now dodik claims there was no genocide, - none of it happened. that should stop. they should put in sanctions. he is trying to fool the entire world. translation: half of bosnia has moved out, no matter if they are bosniak, croat or serb. everything s empty, and not just because of money, it s injustice, unfairness.
and herzegovina, and the bosnian serb republic. since then, during years of economic stagnation, corruption and political turmoil, leaders on all sides have used the divisions of the past to cling to power. but now, the bosnian serb leader milorad dodik, is threatening to break up the state, denying well established evidence that his side committed genocide during the war of the 90s. the bbc sjeremy bowen reported on the bosnian war, and in this extended report he s returned to see how the present is still haunted by the past. the war left open wounds on every side in bosnia. srebrenica s genocide is the deepest. more than 8000 men and boys, bosniak muslims, were massacred in a few days injuly 1995 by serb soldiers.