European Montenegro

ECG) was the ruling political alliance in Montenegro headed by Milo Đukanović's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS).

Under his leadership, DPS began entering pre-election alliances with smaller parties under the coalition banner that had a different name ahead of each parliamentary election.

The first version of the coalition was formed ahead of the 1998 parliamentary elections in Montenegro under the name So that we live better (Да живимо боље/Da živimo bolje).

Đukanović-led DPS called for an alliance between anti-Milošević parties, stating that Milošević's political pursuits were leading FR Yugoslavia into ruin.

From NS perspective, getting 5 seats was not a big reason for celebration since the party had a distinct voting base at the time, meaning they would've surely got more had they entered alone, but they were now in a ruling coalition, in position to influence official policy and were happy to be there as long as DPS supported the idea of a unified state with Serbia.

Though never stable and cohesive, during its first year, the government formed by the "So that we live better" coalition was able to internally agree on basic matters and reach the minimum consensus.

In fall 1999, initiated by Đukanović, Montenegro drafted a document called Platforma za redefiniciju odnosa Crne Gore i Srbije (A platform for redefinition of relations within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia) and sent it to Belgrade.

In an atmosphere when Đukanović–Milošević relations were strained to a maximum, the platform called for major changes in the division of governing responsibilities within FR Yugoslavia.

Consequently, the mainstream of the ruling coalition started to openly support the idea of an independent Montenegro and this became an official government policy, all of which caused huge international outrage and outright opposition from the European Union.

NS subsequently joined the newly formed pro-Yugoslavian Together for Yugoslavia of Predrag Bulatović of the reformed SNP, which based itself on countering this alliance's newfound independent ideology, emphasizing the necessity of keeping the state together with Serbia.

It ran on the 2001 Montenegrin parliamentary election as the "Victory is Montenegro's" (composed of the rump remains of the once large coalition; Democratic Party of Socialists and its sole partner, SDP).