MEPs warn Montenegro’s speaker before parliament vote on his removal

Five members of the European Parliament have sent an open letter to Montenegrin media ahead of this week’s parliamentary vote on dismissing Speaker Andrija Mandić, after he expressed condolences to the family of Ratko Mladić, the Bosnian Serb commander convicted of genocide.

The signatories are Marjan Šarec, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on Montenegro; Thomas Waitz, chair of the EP delegation for relations with Montenegro; and shadow rapporteurs Reinhold Lopatka (EPP), Vladimir Prebilič (Greens) and Costas Mavrides (S&D).

They say they are not instructing Montenegrin MPs how to vote, but that silence would devalue the principles the EU claims to uphold.

Mandić announced on 27 August that he had sent condolences to Mladić’s son Darko “on behalf of myself and the New Serbian Democracy.” Mladić died that week at 84. The UN tribunal in The Hague had sentenced him to life imprisonment for genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and other war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Mandić later told parliament he acted in line with custom as an ethnic Serb and that the message contained “not a single superfluous word.” Critics, including President Jakov Milatović and Croatia’s foreign ministry, called the gesture unacceptable and incompatible with EU values. Zagreb said such messages do not help Montenegro’s accession bid.

The MEPs accept that Mandić framed the condolences as personal and party business. They reject the distinction. As Speaker, they write, his words carry institutional weight. An official of the highest legislative body represents all citizens, not only his voters. Honouring a convicted war criminal, they argue, has no place in a European Union built on the rule of law.

The timing is deliberate. Montenegro is in a sensitive phase of EU accession. The letter says actions of this kind offend officials working on membership and make it harder for Montenegro’s friends in Brussels to argue the country’s case to other member states.

The Democratic Party of Socialists launched the dismissal initiative after Mandić’s message. Thirty-five MPs signed it. Publicly announced support has risen to around 38 votes in the 81-seat parliament. Removal requires a majority of those present once a quorum of 41 is met, not an absolute majority of the whole house. Prime Minister Milojko Spajić’s Europe Now Movement and other governing partners have said they will not vote Mandić out. This is the third attempt to remove him. He survived votes in March 2024 and June 2025.

Mandić is more than a ceremonial presiding officer. Leader of New Serb Democracy and an eight-term MP, he has been Speaker since October 2023. Diplomats and local analysts often describe him as the most powerful politician in Montenegro: the figure who holds the governing majority together, sets the parliamentary calendar and, in some assessments, remains a serious future candidate for prime minister. That is why a personal telegram became a test of the country’s European credentials.

The MEPs close by saying they will respect whatever parliament decides. The Assembly, they note, is Montenegro’s highest legislative body. The vote is scheduled for 24 September. Whether a quorum gathers may matter as much as the count itself.