02 December 2018 - On November 30, Montenegrin Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Pavle Radulović, announced that Montenegro would open Chapter 27 at an intergovernmental conference to be held in Brussels on December 10 this year.
"All EU members gave the green light to the negotiating position of the Government of Montenegro for Chapter 27, which has created the conditions for the Chapter to be opened on December 10," Radulović said at a press conference. He pointed out that this step represents a great success of the whole country, and highlighted his gratitude to his associates and diplomats.
"This is a very significant step for Montenegro, and I publicly congratulate and thank my associates. Also, I thank our diplomatic network as well as the diplomats of the countries of the European Union in Montenegro and the Government's negotiating structure. I particularly thank the EU Delegation in Podgorica. This is a big step forward in the negotiation process, and it is my pleasure to open Chapter 27 in the 27th year since Montenegro was declared an ecological state," said Radulović.
“We are working hard to comply with the EU acquis and attain European standards in the areas such as waste disposal, water management or better air quality because our goal is to ensure a healthy environment for the citizens and new generations,” Montenegro’s Chief EU Negotiator Aleksandar Drljevic stated on September 1st.
To achieve gradual and complete transposition of the entire EU acquis for Chapter 27-Environment and Climate Change into the legal system of Montenegro, the country adopted The National Strategy with Action Plan for transposition, implementation, and enforcement of the EU acquis on Environment and Climate Change (the Strategy with AP) 2016-2020.
Montenegro submitted its Draft on January 22nd, after which the Montenegrin Negotiating team representatives subsequently had a video conference with the European Commission’s representatives from the Directorate-general for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Directorate-general for the Environment and Directorate-general for Climate Change. During the Montenegrin Parliament’s public forum Montenegro and EU, Chapter 27: Environment and climate change, Radulovic said that the Draft was “generally praised” by the European Commission.
