July 02, 2018 - On July 2nd, Montenegrin representatives participated in Summit that gathered European Union and Western Balkans Ambassadors and other representatives. The Montenegrin representative in this meeting was Prime Minister Duško Marković and by this occasion, he said that Montenegro has gone a long way in the process of European Union integration and that the country seeks to obtain final benchmarks for chapters 23 and 24. The preliminary fulfillment of provisional measures would represent the essential progress in the negotiations between the European Union and Montenegro, as pointed out by Montenegrin representatives.
"We are pleased to see that Austria, in addition to all the current and very complex problems facing the EU, recognizes the importance of the region as a direct EU neighborhood but also a natural part of Europe, for its safety, stability and progress. The current year has proved to be very significant for the European perspective of the region, including the publication of the European Commission's Strategy for the Western Balkans, which will be certainly contributed by the upcoming summit in London. We are grateful that the European Union promotes enlargement as one of its most valuable policies and sends a message to the region to believe in it. The decision to open negotiations with Albania and Macedonia is realistic at this point, and we welcome it. It is important that the process is irreversible. We are ready, as before, to share our valuable experience with all of our neighbors in order to ease their way, which Montenegro has already gone through. Tomorrow, the first joint session of the Montenegrin and Albanian cabinets will take places," said Prime Minister Marković.
Among lines of Montenegrin discussion, a new change had happened, since the Office for European Integration has been established at the Office of the Prime Minister and the new chief negotiator has been elected. Bearing in mind the current phase of the negotiation process, it is clear that a serious job is ahead of this team. Fulfilling obligations from the European agenda is a priority for all segments of the state administration.
As to the priorities, there is an inevitable area of the rule of law. We have taken special care to review the recommendations of the European Commission’s report. We have defined the Operational Plan for meeting the priorities, and we can expect at least the implementation of the largest number of activities before sending a non-paper, which is scheduled for November. The Government is conducting consultations with all relevant institutions in order to achieve the necessary results jointly while respecting the principles of power-sharing and the independence of individual institutions. This week we will hold a session of the Collegium for Negotiations, where clear inputs will be shared with institutions for more intensive work by the end of the year, which should contribute to achieving internal readiness to close a number of chapters," the Prime Minister highlighted.
Montenegrin representatives also pointed out that Montenegro did an impressive job in the fight against corruption and organized crime, which was highly greeted by Austrian Ambassador Anna Janković, as she said that Montenegro is at the forefront of the European Union integration process.
