When Montenegro broke free of Serbia after the May 2006 referendum, many voiced doubts about whether a state of just 670,000 people could sustain itself economically – despite the fact that Montenegro was independent between 1878 and 1916 (when Serbia was under Turkish occupation) and only reluctantly became part of the new Kingdom of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia in 1918. There were also political concerns: critics pointed to the narrow margin of the vote (55.5% in favour, only 0.5% above the threshold set by the EU) and difficulties in devising a new constitution.
Most of these arguments now seem spurious. Soon after becoming the IMF’s 185th member in January, the world’s newest country signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU on March 15, the first major step towards membership of the union.
