Minister Maida Gorčević met today, on the sidelines of the Globsec Forum 2024 in Prague, with the Minister of State for Europe, North America and Overseas Territories of the United Kingdom, Stephen Doughty, and the State Secretary at the Ministry of European Affairs of the Kingdom of Sweden, Christian Danielsson.
“Closing the negotiations by 2026 is an ambitious but feasible plan. We have a lot of work ahead of us in order to implement all the necessary reforms in Montenegro, and we also expect continued support from EU institutions and all member states,” Gorčević said.
She informed the interlocutors that the Montenegrin Government and the Ministry of European Affairs are working on the preparation of certain chapters for closing in December, during the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the EU.
As she said, the chapters that are closest to closure are 7 – Intellectual Property Law, 10 – Information Society and Media, 20 – Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy and 31 – Foreign, Security and Defense Policy.
“By temporarily closing Chapter 31, Montenegro will also close cluster 6 – External relations, which would also be the first time that a country closes a cluster in accordance with the new methodology,” Gorčević explained.
State Minister Dauti said that one of the key priorities of the new Government of the United Kingdom, and especially of his department, is greater involvement in the Western Balkans region. He said that the United Kingdom is available to Montenegro for any support and offered cooperation in the areas of defense, security, the fight against disinformation, human trafficking and illegal migration.
State Secretary Danijelson said that Montenegro still has a lot of work to do, but that all the reforms that await us ultimately aim at a better quality of life for Montenegrin citizens.
“Montenegro has made a big move when it comes to European integration, it has shown that results are valued and that only on the basis of achieved reforms it is possible to move forward, which is the goal of the regatta principle advocated by the European Commission,” said State Secretary Danielson.