The Beginning of the Making of Greater Serbia: Milošević Announces the Collapse of the Yugoslav Presidency

On this day, March 16, 1991, Nenad Bućin and Jugoslav Kostić, members from Montenegro and Vojvodina, also resigned from their positions as members of the Presidency of the SFRY. The day before, Borisav Jović, a member from Serbia, did the same. The reason was that the Presidency of Yugoslavia rejected the proposal of the JNA General Staff to introduce a state of emergency in Yugoslavia, writes the Patria news agency.

It was unheard of for the political leadership to advocate for a military coup and want to give the army complete power. The problem, however, was that political power would be marginalized, negotiators would be silenced, and weapons would start firing.

On this day, Slobodan Milošević addressed the nation on television and announced that Serbia was withdrawing from the Presidency of Yugoslavia. This actually confirmed that the JNA had transformed into the army of one nation, the Serbian nation, and this was a move against the preservation of the common state.

The opposition in Serbia immediately knew what was happening, so they directly accused Milošević that by abandoning the Presidency, he intended to overthrow Yugoslavia and begin creating Greater Serbia by military force. This soon proved to be true on the ground.