Foreign relations between

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

and

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

are bound together by shared history, intellectual development, and common geography. Both states are members of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

. Montenegro has been a candidate to join the European Union since 2012, a pursuit supported by Croatia, who has been an EU member since 2013. Their diplomatic relations have been largely amicable, with strong economic collaboration. Croatia and Montenegro are military allies through

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Limited regional geopolitical issues remain, with Montenegro's historic ties to Serbia complicating bilateral relations with Croatia.

History

In late 2002, Croatia and

Serbia and Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

adopted an interim agreement to settle the disputed

Prevlaka Prevlaka () is a small peninsula in southern Croatia, near the border with Montenegro, at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor on the eastern Adriatic coast. Because of its strategic location in the southern Adriatic, in the aftermath of the SFR Y ...

peninsula at the entrance of the

Bay of Kotor The Bay of Kotor ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Boka kotorska, Бока которска, separator=" / ", ), also known as the Boka ( sh-Cyrl, Бока), is a winding bay of the Adriatic Sea in southwestern Montenegro and the region of Montenegro concentrated a ...

in Croatia's favour, allowing the withdrawal of the UN monitoring mission. This agreement has applied to

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

since its independence, who agreed to settle future possible disputes in the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; , CIJ), or colloquially the World Court, is the only international court that Adjudication, adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on International law, internation ...

. In 2000, Montenegrin president

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović (, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician who served as the President of Montenegro from 2018 to 2023, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2002. He also served as the Prime Minister of Montenegro (1991–19 ...

issued a formal apology to the Croatian government for the shelling of Dubrovnik in 1991, which Croatia accepted as part of broader warming of relations. Croatia recognized the independence of Montenegro on June 12, 2006, establishing diplomatic relations on July 7, 2006. Both Croatia and Montenegro have supported the 2008

independence of Kosovo The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence, which proclaimed the Kosovo, Republic of Kosovo to be an independent and sovereign state, was adopted at a meeting held on 17 February 2008 by 109 out of the 120 members of the Assembly of Kosovo, in ...

from Serbia, jointly recognizing it as an independent country. Relations between the Croatia and Montenegro are promoted through the Croatian-Montenegrin Friendship Society "Croatica-Montenegrina''"''. Montenegrin and Croatian, official languages of Montenegro and Croatia respectively, are

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

standard varieties A standard language (or standard variety, standard dialect, standardized dialect or simply standard) is any language variety that has undergone substantial codification in its grammar, lexicon, writing system, or other features and that stands o ...

of the

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

language. During the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, Croatia supplied medical equipment to Montenegro in a form of

medical diplomacy Medical diplomacy or public health diplomacy is a form of diplomacy. It is the provision of medical assistance, including vaccines, or aid for the purpose of furthering national goals. It is often considered to be a form of soft power but it has var ...

. In June 2024, the Montenegrin parliament adopted a resolution recognizing the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

-era

Jasenovac concentration camp Jasenovac () was a concentration camp, concentration and extermination camp established in the Jasenovac, Sisak-Moslavina County, village of the same name by the authorities of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in occupied Yugoslavia durin ...

as a

genocidal Genocide is violence that targets individuals because of their membership of a group and aims at the destruction of a people. Raphael Lemkin, who first coined the term, defined genocide as "the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group" b ...

operation. Led by pro-Serbia

political parties in Montenegro This article lists political parties in Montenegro. Montenegro has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition gover ...

, it was seen as a counter-response to Montenegro's support for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

resolution on the Serbian-led

Srebrenica genocide The Srebrenica massacre, also known as the Srebrenica genocide, was the July 1995 genocidal killing of more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys in and around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian War. It was mainly perpetrated by units ...

that was passed in May. Croatia sanctioned three Montenegrin politicians that year and temporarily excluded Montenegro from a Croatian

defense pact A defense pact ( Commonwealth spelling: defence pact) is a type of treaty or military alliance in which the signatories promise to support each other militarily and to defend each other.Volker Krause, J. David Singer "Minor Powers, Alliances, And ...

with

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

in 2025. The

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

noted Montenegro's strained relations with Croatia as a challenge for Montenegrin accession into the EU. In exchange for Croatian support of Montenegrin accession, Croatia has requested resolution on key issues. This includes formal delineation of the

border, a return of the ''Jadran'' ship to the

Croatian Navy The Croatian Navy (HRM; ) is the naval force branch of the Croatian Armed Forces. It was formed in 1991 from what Croatian forces managed to capture from the Yugoslav Navy during the breakup of Yugoslavia and Croatian War of Independence. In ad ...

, formal acknowledgment of the Morinj detention camp, and educational equality for the Croatian minority in Montenegro. The Croatian governemnt has cautioned against Serbian and Russian influence in Montenegrin politics, calling it disruptive to otherwise amicable bilateral relations.

Embassies

* Croatia: embassy in

Podgorica Podgorica ( cnr-Cyrl, Подгорица; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Montenegro, largest city of Montenegro. The city is just north of Lake Skadar and close to coastal destinations on the Adriatic Sea. Histor ...

and a consulate-general in

Kotor Kotor (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Котор, ), historically known as Cattaro (from Italian language, Italian: ), is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Bay of Kotor. The city has ...

. * Montenegro: embassy in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

References

External links

Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: list of bilateral treaties with Montenegro
{{DEFAULTSORT:Croatia-Montenegro relations

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

Bilateral relations of Montenegro

History

Embassies

See also

References

External links