20 March 2019 - The determined fight against organised crime in Montenegro, which has recently resulted in the arrests of members of an organised criminal group, the prevention of serious crimes and progress in key investigations, clearly show that the State is ready for the next phase of the negotiation process, said representatives of the Montenegrin institutions at a meeting in Brussels.
A meeting of the EU Council's Working Group on enlargement and the Countries Negotiating Accession to the EU (COELA), which took place in Brussels earlier today discussed latest results in the fight against high corruption and organised crime.
Chief Negotiator Aleksandar Drljević stated that since the last meeting with COELA in October 2018, Montenegro has Chapter 27, hopeful that Chapter 8 will be opened this year. When it comes to the core of the negotiation process, the rule of law, he pointed out that the EC Working Paper on the situation in chapters 23 and 24 identified better results in combating organized crime than in previous years.
"The results are what we want to present today in order to further convince you that we are ready for the next phase of the negotiation process. The recent decisive attack on organised crime in Montenegro has resulted in a number of arrests of members of an organised criminal gang, the prevention of numerous serious crimes and significant progress in key investigations," the Chief Negotiator said.
Member of the Negotiating Group for chapters 23 and 24 and Head of the Working Group for Chapter 23 Marijana Laković outlined the overall progress in the rule of law. She informed members of COELA about the development of a new Justice Reform Strategy for four years, a new information system for the judiciary, and the improvement of the spatial capacities of judicial institutions. As to the promotion of media freedom, she presented the latest activities undertaken with a view to implementing the recommendations of the European Commission, the Council of Europe and the United Nations. "The Government is determined to guarantee and promote freedom of the media, which represents the core value of any democratic society. This was confirmed by the coordinated actions of the judicial authorities and the police that led to moving forward in investigating attacks on journalists," Ms Laković said.
Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnić presented the activities of the Special Prosecutor's Office in the fight against organised crime and corruption at a high level, with a focus on cases in the field of public interest. He said that in 2018 financial investigations were initiated in seven cases against 47 physical and legal entities. For criminal offenses of organised crime in 2018, 13 charges were filed against 87 persons charged with criminal acts of high corruption, 12 indictments against 31 persons, while one criminal charge was filed against one person for the criminal offense of money laundering.
Enis Baković of the Police Authority noted that good cooperation between the Police and the State Prosecutor's Offices, as well as international cooperation with EUROPOL, INTERPOL and EU member states, resulted in numerous actions in which members of organsed criminal groups were apprehended and a large amount of drugs and cigarettes was seized.
Director of the Anti-Corruption Agency Sreten Radonjić presented the results of Agency in the past year. He particularly referred to the Agency's work on the implementation of the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns, pointing out that in the last three years the Agency has launched 486 misdemeanor proceedings against political entities and authorities for violating the Law on Financing Political Entities and Election Campaigns.
Representatives of EU member states praised Montenegro's results in the fight against corruption and organised crime, stating that all member states should recognise it and support Montenegro's transition to the next phase of negotiations. They are convinced that the policy of enlargement will remain high on the agenda of the EU after the elections to the European Parliament in May.
