By implementing several projects funded by EU, Bar Municipality has shown that it has the capacity to compete with complex procedures and enable its citizens to feel benefits of the accession process even at this phase, it was stated during the visit of the Chief Negotiator Aleksandar Drljevic to Bar.
Drljevic had a meeting with the Mayor of the Municipality Bar, Dusan Raicevic, attended the public debate “The role of local self-governments in EU negotiations”. He has also visited Primary School “Jugoslavia” and talked to students about EU integration of Montenegro. Also, he has visited the trilateral project Croatia-Bosnia and Herzegovina-Montenegro implemented by the Hospital “Blazo Orlandic”.
During the meeting with the Mayor, Drljevic said that the Government was in charge of the accession negotiation process, but that the country`s progress towards the EU is not happening at the national level only, but requires synergy of the whole society, with special focus on municipalities. He said that all municipalities should use opportunities provided through negotiations and pre-accession funds to strengthen their own capacities and infrastructure, adding that Bar Municipality can be satisfied with the way it uses benefits of EU integration.
Raicevic pointed out that good cooperation between the Government and municipalities is crucial for the negotiation process. He thanked the Office for European Integration for its support to Bar Municipality in strengthening its knowledge and skills that will prepare them for EU membership.
During a public debate, Drljevic and Raicevic, together with KEI representative Milena Ilickovic, heads of working groups for chapters 13 and 27, Slavica Pavlovic and Ivana Vojinovic, as well as negotiator for Chapter 11 Radana Damjanovic, responded to questions about the opportunities of the EU to municipalities, procedures for applying for projects, benefits from future EU membership, with a focus on agriculture, fisheries, environment and climate change.
Damjanovic recalled that Chapter 11 was opened on December 13, 2016, but noted that the process of European integration in this area began much earlier, with the adoption of the first Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Pavlovic said that the state is trying to help the development of the fisheries sector. She emphasized that she is glad that the Mayor of Bar understands the importance of this sector.
Vojinovic said that she hopes that Bar Municipality, along with its ambitious self-government, will again be the cleanest Montenegrin municipality and contribute to the development of Montenegro as an ecological state, recalling that Chapter 27 is one of the most demanding and expensive.
Ilickovic presented successful projects carried out in the territory of Bar, emphasizing the excellent results of the Port of Bar , as well as the project of purchasing valuable medical equipment for the Hospital “Blazo Orlandic”. She added that Bar Municipality itself, regarding IPA II (2014-2020), is currently participating in one project of European territorial cooperation, with a total value of 625.000 euro.
Visit to Bar Municipality is part of the “European day in your town” activity, which is implemented through the EU4ME project funded by the European Union, and implemented by UNDP.
GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
SECTOR FOR INFORMING THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE EU AND THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS
