Corruption
and Cruise Ships
Montenegro's
Scenic Coast Spoiled by Greed
Montenegro
is the only country in the world to describe itself as "ecological"
in its constitution. But the exploitation of its Adriatic coastline, where
developers are given free rein, tells a different story.
© privat By Keno Verseck
Photo
Gallery: Greed and Corruption Sully Montenegro's CoastPhotos
Stevan
Kordic
November 08, 2019 02:00 PMk
It's a
beautiful day along Montenegro's Adriatic coast. The air is warm, the sun is
high and Miljan Vujosevic cruises along in his rickety old station wagon to a
beach known only to locals. But Vujosevic isn't on vacation. This trip is all
about business.
His native
Bay of Kotor, the only fjord on the Adriatic Sea and a Unesco World Heritage
site, is in danger. He grew up in this idyllic corner of the Balkans and in
recent years, he has watched as his home has grown increasingly popular with
tourists.
Formerly
part of Yugoslavia, Montenegro rests on Europe's southeastern flank. It has no
raw materials, no real industry to speak of and little chance of ever joining
the European Union. As compensation, it relies heavily on tourism to prop up
its economy. But tourism is a double-edged sword, and it is threatening to
destroy the tiny Balkan country.
The Bay of
Kotor
Stevan
Kordic
The Bay of
Kotor
New
apartments and resorts are under construction all along the Adriatic coast, but
the building frenzy is strongest in the Bay of Kotor. Montenegrin
municipalities, along with big and small investors alike, have been swept up in
the gold rush. And should any pesky bureaucratic hurdles emerge, many local
authorities -- including those who issue building permits -- have no qualms
about accepting bribes. Anyone who cries foul and tries to expose this corrupt
system will almost certainly run into trouble.
Miljan
Vujosevic is one such person.
Trashing
Ancient Ruins
The
46-year-old is a full-time programmer and IT expert who is no stranger to
receiving threats. Most are anonymous, either by email or phone. The
perpetrators have "encouraged" him to think about his family, his
children's future. His car has been vandalized more than once. Someone even
tried to set it on fire. The police did not investigate.
But
Vujosevic refuses to remain silent. "My family has lived here for more
than 400 years. This is our home," he says. "At some point, I
couldn't sit by any longer and watch everything become disfigured and
destroyed."
Miljan Vujosevic
Stevan Kordic
Miljan Vujosevic
The narrow
road along which Vujosevic is driving today winds over mountains, past old
olive groves and through forests with acacias, pines, cypresses, cacti and palm
trees. It meanders through small villages with centuries-old stone homes and
churches. And finally, in the Bay of Zanjic, it leads to "Ribarsko
Selo," a luxury resort with bungalows built into the cliffside, a gourmet
restaurant and private water access. It was because of this complex that
Vujosevic founded the initiative "Bokobran" with some of his friends.
From the
resort's lofty perch, visitors can enjoy sweeping views that stretch all the
way to the Adriatic Sea. There was once a fortress here and part of the old
fortification wall can still be seen between trees and undergrowth. Today, the
owner of "Ribarsko Selo" uses the space next to the ancient ruins as
a dumping ground for trash, construction debris and scrap metal.
An archeological
site next to a luxury resort that is now used as a dumping ground
Stevan
Kordic
Missing
Assessments
According
to contemporary Montenegrin regulations for undeveloped archaeological sites,
construction at this site should never have taken place without an exhaustive
preliminary investigation by experts, Vujosevic says. Experts should have
assessed the area's cultural and historical value and, having found any, they
should have imposed a ban on construction within a radius of several hundred
meters. This would have included the luxury resort next door.
But there
never was any such assessment. The owner of the property, Dejan Davidovic, had
the resort erected within a few months in summer 2017.
Along with
an archeologist friend of his, Vujosevic secretly mapped the site, photographed
the new buildings and took videos with a drone. The duo submitted the
documentation -- and a formal complaint -- to the Directorate for Protection of
Cultural Heritage of Montenegro and to the public prosecutor's office. So far,
their report has gone answered.
Local
activists take photos of illegal constructions and misuse of historic cultural
sites.
Stevan
Kordic
Construction
workers toss rusty metal fencing between the ancient walls. Vujosevic snaps a
few photos of the site. He intends to submit the photos to the local authorities
and inquire whether they intend to do anything about it. He then walks down the
stone path to the restaurant to speak with Davidovic, but he's told the
businessman is unavailable. Davidovic didn't respond to inquiries from DER
SPIEGEL asking about building permits and expert assessments.
Power
Family
Montenegro
is the only country in the world that defines itself as "ecological"
in its own constitution. In fact, it's in the very first article. Government
officials are keen to mention this fact during interviews. The responsible
cabinet department is called the "Ministry for Sustainable Development and
Tourism." Montenegro's official tourism slogan is, "Wild
Beauty."
Up to five
cruise ships used to dock every day in Kotor. Now it's only an average of two.
Stevan
Kordic
Up to five
cruise ships used to dock every day in Kotor. Now it's only an average of two.
Activists
like Vujosevic find this cynical. In the "Yale Environmental Performance
Index" (EPI), of the world's leading rankings of environmental standards
and sustainable development, Montenegro scored near the bottom in Europe, along
with Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine and Moldova. The index cited the prevalence of
sewage flowing untreated into the soil, rivers or the sea, hundreds of illegal
garbage dumps sullying nature and the implementation of many infrastructure,
hydropower and oil-drilling projects without any regard for the environment.
To be sure,
the number of tourists -- and the demand for hotels -- is also rising in
countries like Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania. But Montenegro has seen,
by far, the most ruthless exploitation of its coastline. There is hardly any
stretch of coast left untouched.
Anyone who
wants to do business in Montenegro would be well advised to maintain close ties
to Milo Djukanovic, the country's president, and his party, the Democratic
Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS). Djukanovic has been in power in
Montenegro for 30 years, whether as president, prime minister or as the head of
the ruling political party. His brother owns a majority stake in the country's
largest bank. For investors, there is no way around Djukanovic's sister, a
business lawyer. Djukanovic's son owns a finance, IT and energy empire.
The luxury
resort "Dobrota Palazzi" has an artificial beach that was created
despite local regulations. The owner is the nephew of Montenegro's president.
Stevan
Kordic
Under
"Milo's" rule, as the president is known to Montenegrins, large
stretches of the Adriatic coast have been sold to private companies and
individuals, local businessmen and party functionaries and rich Russians and
Arabs. Of course, Djukanovic's allies also head the Ministry of Sustainable
Development and Tourism, which is responsible for greenlighting plans for
development.
Too Many
Tourists
The town of
Kotor, from which the scenic bay gets its name, was an important Adriatic
trading hub in the Middle Ages. Its historic city center is among southeastern
Europe's most precious destinations and Kotor has been one of the top sites for
tour operators in the eastern Mediterranean for several years, attracting
several thousand tourists a day during the high season. Many arrive via bus
from nearby Croatia, though the lion's share come via cruise ship..
Around 9:30
a.m., Ana Nives Radovic walks through Kotor's historic district to her office.
Already hundreds of tourists crowd the narrow streets. They take selfies as
tour guides recite the same thing in English, Spanish, French, Russian and
Chinese. Shop owners hawk souvenirs while waiters canvass for customers.
Radovic waits patiently, again and again, for tourists to finish taking their
photos. "Many people here condemn tourism overall," she says,
"but I think it just needs to be organized differently."
Radovic,
35, has been the director of the Tourism Organisation of Kotor for nearly two
years. She has degrees in economics, tourism and finance economics, EU law and
block chain technology. She speaks six languages fluently. Her goal is to save
her hometown from collapse through overtourism.
She has
watched cruise ship tourism with increasing unease in recent years, she says.
"The city administration only cared about docking fees," she says,
"otherwise there has been no tourism management." This was the reason
she applied to be the director of the tourism office. "I'm not an
activist. I don't speak publicly about politics," she says. "I just
wanted to try and change something."
She
negotiated with cruise lines to reduce the number of ships calling at port each
day in Kotor. Rather than four or five massive cruise liners arriving as it was
before, now it's only an average of two. There are even some days in the summer
when no ships drop anchor in the bay. "Cruise operators are willing to
cooperate because they want to shake their reputation as polluters,"
Radovic says. "It's a business matter too. They want the places where
their ships dock to remain authentic and not be destroyed."
Most people
trying to exploit Montenegro's tourism industry for all it's worth, however,
don't have this much foresight.
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