The Parliament of Montenegro has approved amendments to the law regulating the status of the descendants of the Petrović-Njegoš Dynasty, retaining language that describes the events of 1918 as a “violent annexation” of Montenegro.
The law was adopted with 40 votes in favor, 3 against, and 2 abstentions. Although there had been initiatives in recent months to amend the wording, the term “violent” remained in the final text of the legislation.
According to the first article of the law, the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty was removed from the throne through the “act of violent annexation of the state in 1918.” This wording refers to the incorporation of the Kingdom of Montenegro into the Kingdom of Serbia following the end of World War I.
Montenegrin media report that the government and the parliamentary majority ultimately abandoned efforts to change this part of the law and instead focused primarily on resolving property and status-related issues concerning the family of Nikola Petrović-Njegoš.
The debate surrounding the description of the 1918 events remains one of the most sensitive historical issues in Montenegro. While part of Montenegrin historiography views the union with Serbia as a violent annexation, the dominant interpretation in Serbia presents it as the unification of two South Slavic states following World War I.
