Miodrag Vlahović ( sr-cyrl, Миодраг Влаховић; born 15 November 1961) is a Montenegrin politician and former diplomat.

Education and background

He was born in

Đakovica Gjakova, ) and Đakovica ( sr-Cyrl, Ђаковица, ) is the seventh largest city of Kosovo and seat of Gjakova Municipality and Gjakova District. The city has 40,827 inhabitants, while the municipality has 94,556 inhabitants. Geographicall ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

FPR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yugo ...

and graduated from

Veljko Vlahović University The University of Montenegro ( cnr, Универзитет Црнe Горe / Univerzitet Crne Gore) is a national public university of Montenegro. Its central administration and majority of constitutive Faculty (division), faculties are located i ...

's Faculty of Law in

Titograd Podgorica (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Подгорица, ; Literal translation, lit. 'under the hill') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city was formerly known as Titograd ...

in 1981. He completed his LLM at the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

Law School A law school (also known as a law centre or college of law) is an institution specializing in legal education, usually involved as part of a process for becoming a lawyer within a given jurisdiction. Law degrees Argentina In Argentina, ...

, specializing in international trade contracts. He furthered his law studies in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Career

Since 1990, he has been the owner of MConsult ltd, one of the first private consulting firms in Montenegro. He was the founder of Citizens Committee for Peace, a Montenegrin peace movement in 1991. He organized the first peace rally in Montenegro, on 17 July 1991, where he delivered the speech "Heroism Today is Not To Go to War". He was a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

in the

Parliament of the Republic of Montenegro The Parliament of Montenegro ( cg, Скупштина Црне Горе, Skupština Crne Gore) is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 ...

from 1992 to 1994, and the

Liberal Alliance of Montenegro Liberal Alliance of Montenegro ( cnr, italic=no, Liberalni savez Crne Gore - LSCG; Либерални савез Црне Горе - ЛСЦГ) was a Montenegrin separatist, liberal and anti-war political party, active between 1990 and 2005. The ...

international secretary from 1992 to 1993. He resigned from Parliament in 1994, in protest over unconstitutional changes to the Electoral Law. In 2014 he founded a new party called Crnogorska demokratska unija (Montenegrin Democratic Union), which in 2017 changed its name to Crnogorska (Montenegrin). Since 2004, Vlahović acted as an independent politician and diplomat, affiliated with the ruling

DPS DPS may refer to: Schools United States * Dalton Public Schools, the public school district in Dalton, Georgia * Dearborn Public Schools, the public school district in Dearborn, Michigan * Decatur Public Schools District 61, the public school sys ...

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović ( cnr, Мило Ђукановић, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician serving as the President of Montenegro since 2018, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2003. He also served as the Prime Minister o ...

, in several DPS-led governments, from 2004 until 2020 election, and the end of DPS rule in Montenegro, after 30 years in power. He was the first

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

upon Montenegro's

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in June 2006 (serving as a foreign minister from July 2004 to November 2006). On 6 December Vlahović became Montenegro's Ambassador to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

; that day, he presented his credentials to Secretary of State

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Uni ...

. From 30 October 2007 Ambassador Vlahović was also accredited to Canada. He was also accredited as Montenegrin ambassador to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, from 2006 to 2010. He most recently served as the Montenegrin ambassador to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

and to the

Sovereign Military Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

, in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, from 2017 to 2021. Following the results of 2020 election, which resulted in a victory for the

opposition parties Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

and the fall from power of the ruling

, after ruling country for 30 years, Vlahović was removed from the office of ambassador in February 2021, after months of disputing the new technocratic cabinet of Montenegro and refusing to leave the office.

Controversies

In 2021 Vlahović refused to leave the office of the ambassador of Montenegro to the Holy See and to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, and according to the official statement by the Montenegrin Ministry of Foreign Affairs, changed the lock on the embassy's door and refused to hand over his post to the temporary

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

appointed by the Ministry. The situation ended when the President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, signed the decree officially recalling Vlahović. As of 2021, Vlahović is facing disciplinary actions for inappropriate behavior, insubordination, and making internal documents public. Montenegrin Agency for Prevention of Corruption brought several decisions stating that Vlahović broke the law by avoiding to declare his income and assets.

References

Living people 1961 births People from Gjakova Kosovo Serbs Montenegrin diplomats University of Belgrade Faculty of Law alumni University of Montenegro Faculty of Law alumni Ambassadors of Montenegro to the United States Ambassadors of Montenegro to Canada Foreign Ministers of Montenegro Liberal Party of Montenegro politicians Montenegrin nationalists {{Montenegro-politician-stub

Education and background

Career

Controversies

See also

References