INTERVIEW: ACADEMICIAN MATIJA BECKOVIC

SERBIA NEEDS A TRUE BIRTH CERTIFICATE!

Communism first abolished monarchy and exiled Dynasty, so any democratic government would have to nullify such a decision ● Serbian Church has never recognized the republic, nor abandoned the monarchy ● We would not return anything that does not already belong to the Crown Prince, nor proclaim him anything but what he already is not

Academician Matija Beckovic, a member of the Crown Council who has wholeheartedly supported the Declaration for the reestablishment of monarchy in Serbia, explains why it is the right moment for reestablishment of this form of state system, in the interview for “Vesti”:

- We have tried and used everything else. We have tried this and that, so let us try the right thing. There is no way out unless it is the right one. Communism first abolished monarchy and exiled Dynasty. That is why any democratic government would have to nullify such a decision. In the same order that the “dictatorship of proletariat” had been introduced, the democratic order and the rule of law should have been established after the downfall of communism. Better a constitutional monarchy than an illegal and unconstitutional republic! If the decree had been declared null and void immediately, the whole world would have known that the change did take place. And would not doubt our loyalty to the truth and justice. That was the least that any democratic alternative should have done. Who could not do that much, could do no more. That is a priority and a letter A of any change. The government that can’t do that much and that hasn’t got that as its priority, is just a version of communism and there is no reason for it to promise us anything else. Of course it is not the solution to all our problems, but it is the solution to the first problem, after which it would be easier to solve all the others. Just as the Crown Prince became the King the moment his father died, so Serbia should have become a Kingdom the moment communism died.

In the context of the Patriarch’s support, and having in mind the two thousand years long wisdom of the Orthodox Church dignitaries, and their strategic vision, is the reestablishment of monarchy in Serbia closer than anybody could have hoped?

- Serbian Church and Serbian state are of the same age. They were founded by a father and a son. Serbian Church has never recognized the republic, nor renounced the monarchy. How could it? Our Serbian Kings are not just Kings, they are the saints, martyrs and endowers who not only founded churches and monasteries, but were buried in them. The Karadjordjevics are the continuation of that tradition. The bicentennial of the First Serbian Uprising and the completion of the Temple of St. Sava in Vracar are a fine opportunity for Serbia to have its birth certificate again and appears in the world with its original documents. The Church has not spoken because of the past which is secure, but because of the future of Serbian nation which is uncertain. And it certainly did not support the reestablishment of a long time dead and gone Kingdom, but for the reestablishment of the Kingdom of Serbia adjusted to our time and the present generations. The Crown is a nation, the state is a republic. The King is one thing, politics is another!

Does Alexander II, having family ties with the most European Royal families, perhaps have “a good wind in his back” now, for the return of Serbian Crown?

- I think that would be the most joyful news that the world has heard from Serbia since 1945. That would be a sign that we have come back to ourselves, that we have turned away from the cul-de-sac and got back to the place where we used to be. We need the King and the Kingdom not because of the Crown Prince’s ambition, but because Serbia has no other legitimacy or state tradition. I don’t know what we could agree on if not on whether Serbia is a Kingdom and whether it has the Crown. And in that Crown we all have our share, and it is equally close or distant to all of us. We would not return anything that does not already belong to the Crown Prince, nor proclaim him anything but what he already is. The state affairs would be left to the “republic”. Not just the Church is separated from the state, so is the Crown. That has been so ever since Byzantine times, when the Emperor used to reign, and so is today, let’s say in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Do you have any information on how the reestablishment of monarchy is seen from the financial, military and political centers of power?

- If Serbia is capable of this endeavor, they can only take their hats off!

How much readiness is there to support the Serbian Crown and help Serbia to become a stable, democratic and prosperous state?

- For now, it is enough if they don’t work against it, and they will help us as much as we deserve.

If Serbia became a monarchy, and Montenegro remained a republic, how would the State Union function?

- If the Montenegrins do not put conditions to Brussels that Belgium should become a republic if they want Montenegro to enter the European Union, then they should not put conditions to Belgrade, if Serbia becomes a Kingdom. Besides, they will not cooperate less than they do now.

What is your opinion on the relationship between the Serbs and the Montenegrins, considering that the number of Serbs has increased according to the recent census in Montenegro?

- The Serbs are fewer everywhere, except in Montenegro. There is a “white plague” in Montenegro, and in Montenegro, it seems, only Serbs have been born since the last census. That brings joy to Guinness himself.

Radmila Loncar