Goodbye, Serbia

Podgorica, Montenegro

Montenegrins voted for independence from their joint state with Serbia this week, making theirs the last republic of the former Yugoslavia to abandon Belgrade. The vote favoring independence was barely above the 55 percent threshold the European Union had set for the tally to be recognized as binding, and analysts said Montenegrins living abroad made the difference. Some 16,000 Montenegrins from abroad went home to vote, in a country of just 650,000. “This is the most important day in Montenegro’s recent history,” Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said. “Today, the citizens of Montenegro voted to restore their statehood.” Slovenia, Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia split from Yugoslavia in the 1990s during the Balkan wars.