{"id":84697,"date":"2026-05-21T16:01:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=84697"},"modified":"2026-05-21T16:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T14:11:21","slug":"celebrations-and-historical-remembrance-montenegro-marks-20-years-of-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/celebrations-and-historical-remembrance-montenegro-marks-20-years-of-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrations and historical remembrance: Montenegro marks 20 years of independence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"88\" data-end=\"274\">Montenegro this week is marking the 20th anniversary of its independence with concerts and festive activities taking place in the capital, Podgorica, and other cities across the country.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"276\" data-end=\"550\">On May 21, 2006, Montenegrin citizens voted in a historic referendum on the future of the state, with 55.5% choosing independence after a long period of political transition that followed the regional wars and the 1999 NATO bombing campaign linked to the conflict in Kosovo.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"552\" data-end=\"812\">The separation from the joint state with Serbia was considered profound and divisive, given the close historical, religious, and cultural ties between the two countries, as well as the fact that a large portion of Montenegro\u2019s population identifies as Serbian.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"814\" data-end=\"969\">The independence process was led by former Montenegrin leader Milo \u0110ukanovi\u0107, who steered the country toward Euro-Atlantic integration and NATO membership.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"971\" data-end=\"1111\">Montenegro\u2019s current President, Jakov Milatovi\u0107, stated that full integration into the European Union remains the country\u2019s next major goal.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1113\" data-end=\"1469\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">\u201cTwenty years ago, the citizens of Montenegro took decision-making into their own hands, and this became the foundation of our development. Great progress occurred when the country became part of NATO in 2017. Being part of NATO is extremely important for a small country like Montenegro because NATO guarantees our security and statehood,\u201d Milatovi\u0107 said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Montenegro this week is marking the 20th anniversary of its independence with concerts and festive activities taking place in the capital, Podgorica, and other cities across the country. On May 21, 2006, Montenegrin citizens voted in a historic referendum on the future of the state, with 55.5% choosing independence after a long period of political [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":84698,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Celebrations and historical remembrance: Montenegro marks 20 years of independence - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/celebrations-and-historical-remembrance-montenegro-marks-20-years-of-independence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Celebrations and historical remembrance: Montenegro marks 20 years of independence - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Montenegro this week is marking the 20th anniversary of its independence with concerts and festive activities taking place in the capital, Podgorica, and other cities across the country. 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