June 16, 2018 - Austria hosted the European “Wachau” Conference, which is held annually on June 15-16 in the country. The first conference took place in 1995, the same year that Austria joined the European Union and has happened every year since then. The purpose of this conference is to strengthen closeness of the citizens of Europe and serve as an impulse and discussion platform for political decisions concerning Europe. Montenegro took part in this year’s conference, and the Montenegrin representative was Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic.
During this occasion, the Montenegrin representative noted that the Balkans is now in a better position than it was 20 years ago, but that the challenges still exist, adding that the European enlargement policy is the best guarantee for the greater security of the region and Europe as a whole.
"We do not have the level of security and safety we want, and that is why we are safer together as states and as individuals. The fact that the Balkans has been in a continued state of uncertainty and instability resulted in the destruction of our own resources. That is why today the Western Balkans is so far behind developed Europe," said Prime Minister Markovic.
On this occasion, the Montenegrin Prime Minister also took the opportunity to have a word with Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic and with the Austrian Federal Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz. In their discussions, the officials mostly discussed security challenges and used the chance to point out the current development and past progress.
In his meeting with his Croatian counterpart, Prime Minister Markovic informed him about Montenegro's plan to open two negotiating chapters during the Austrian presidency and bring the preconditions for meeting the provisional benchmarks for chapters 23 and 24 to an end in order to enter the intensive process of closing negotiation chapters.
The Croatian Prime Minister concluded that the bilateral relations between Montenegro and Croatia are excellent and said that Croatia strongly supports Montenegro’s European Union integration and that his country will continue to advocate for Montenegro’s plans within the European Union.
Montenegrin Prime Minister, in his discussion with Chancellor Kurz, noted that Montenegro, in its European Union integration process, expects support from Austria, which takes over the European Union’s presidency on the 1st of July. Prime Minister Markovic also informed Chancellor Kurz that successful dynamics of accession negotiations with the European Union is an absolute priority of the Government of Montenegro in the upcoming period.
“Our administration has received clear directions on where they should work to effectively fulfill the commitments of the European agenda. We are focused on strengthening institutions and their sustainability, dealing with organized crime, the rule of law, human rights and media freedom of speech, while further building the ability to manage our economy and public finances as well. These are our obligations that we will fulfill and that will strengthen our potential,” said Prime Minister Markovic.
Chancellor Kurz concluded that Austria will support such plans of Montenegro, keeping in mind that the Western Balkans are among the priorities of the Austrian presidency. He also added that the Austrian government is encouraging Montenegro to open two new chapters during this period because they think that such step is well deserved.
