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Montenegro road to nowhere7/4/2023 ![]() ![]() "It was a good chance for Brussels to show its dedication to the region." "This was a good chance for Brussels to gain some ground in the region," Vladisavljev says. He sees broader political goals for Beijing, especially in the case of Montenegro, where, despite its pleas to the EU, Brussels refused to help repay the country's loan to China. For years, he has kept track of Chinese-funded projects in his home country of Serbia. ![]() ![]() She has spent years detailing Russian government investment and influence in Montenegro, and sees a familiar pattern with Chinese investment in her country.īut Stefan Vladisavljev, a program coordinator for the think tank the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence, believes he knows. Milica Kovacevic is president of the Center for Democratic Transition in Podgorica. For China, I don't think that anyone understands what is the final goal." But it was to destabilize and to prevent from any Western integration that was at the time, whether that was in the Austro-Hungarian Empire or now the EU and NATO. "We completely understand Russian policy towards the region, and it didn't change for hundreds of years," she says. Kovacevic has spent her career studying Russian investment and influence in Montenegro. For years, Montenegro had plans to build this highway but European banks weren't interested in lending the money because they didn't believe they'd be paid back, says Milica Kovacevic, president of the Center for Democratic Transition, an advocacy group in Podgorica. "This is not normal," he said "This is out of any kind of logic of national interest." China's ambitionsĪnother source of confusion is why China was interested in this project in the first place. Deputy Prime Minister Abazovic told Euronews in May that he finds the terms incredulous. In addition, Montenegro's former government signed off on allowing a Chinese government court to have the final say on the execution of the contract. "We are now victim of the extremely bad decision of the former government," said an exasperated Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic to Euronews this spring in an effort to appeal to the EU to come to Montenegro's rescue the country aims to be an EU member one day.Ī copy of the loan contract reviewed by NPR shows that if Montenegro is not able to repay China's state-owned Export-Import Bank on time, the bank then has the right to seize land inside Montenegro, as long as it doesn't belong to the military or is used for diplomatic purposes. He's not the only one blaming the country's previous government for catapulting the country into historic debt with this project, which was signed in 2014 with the China Road and Bridge Corporation, and funded by the Export-Import Bank of China. "But I don't think this is a problem from China. "I think we will pay not maybe this generation, but future generations," says Soc, the former justice minister. Montenegro's government says the first section put it in so much debt that it can no longer afford to build the rest of the highway. It also has implications for China's growing influence along the European Union's periphery, and whether the EU missed an opportunity to help Montenegro out. The project - a 25-mile section of a proposed 270-mile highway that would run from Montenegro's Port of Bar on the Adriatic Sea to Belgrade, the capital of neighboring Serbia - is not only raising questions about decisions made by Montenegro's previous leaders and unsustainable debts associated with China's ambitious infrastructure and trade initiative across several continents. "We make a joke: It is a highway from nothing to nothing," he says. What's worse, says the country's former Justice Minister Dragan Soc, once completed, the road won't lead anywhere anyway. The first installment of the $1 billion loan from a Chinese state bank is due in July, and it's unclear whether Montenegro, whose debt has climbed to more than a 100% of its gross domestic product due to this project, will be able to afford it. The highway hasn't been paid for yet, either. The Chinese state-owned company hasn't finished construction yet, so cars are using the old road underneath it. The highway ends, for now, in the remote mountainous terrain east of the city. PODGORICA, Montenegro - The section of highway that threatens to cripple Montenegro's economy begins in the foothills outside the capital Podgorica, where scaffolding lines a multi-lane expressway closed off to the public. The highway project, constructed by a large Chinese state-owned company, risks derailing Montenegro's economy. An aerial view shows part of a highway near Podgorica, the capital of Montenegros. ![]()
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