European Union should demonstrate a stronger willingness to support the enlargement policy, as well as Montenegro on its way to membership, especially through closing the chapters for which the conditions have been met, the Chief Negotiator of Montenegro Aleksandar Drljević stated, during the meeting with the Head of Division ‘Western Balkans’ within the European External Action Service Elsa Fenet.
He emphasized that the goal of integration is primarily to improve the quality of life of Montenegrin citizens, and only then EU membership. He recalled that Montenegro is a leader in the EU integration process, and because of that is very important for the Union to maintain the principle that candidate countries approach on their own merits.
“We believe that the EU will show an even greater support to the process of the integration of Montenegro, primarily through the closing of chapters for which the conditions have been met, as well as recognizing the interest of a united Europe based on solidarity which keeps the enlargement policy high on the agenda. On the other hand, our focus remains on the implementation of the reforms in the field of the rule of law”, stated the Chief Negotiator during the meeting.
Fenet positively assessed Montenegro’s contribution to maintaining good regional cooperation and the progress made so far in the EU integration process.
“EU members are interested to accelerate the enlargement process and make it more efficient, for which the progress in the field of the rule of law is a pre-condition, in accordance with the new approach to negotiations. The issues that are very important to every member state are, of course, cooperation with the civil society and the reform of the election legislation”, she said.
Drljević informed his interlocutor that the representatives of the civil sector are the members of the working groups for the preparation and the conduct of the negotiations, which is way to contribute to the progress of Montenegro to the EU. He agreed that the dialogue is of key importance for reforms of election legislation, emphasising the important role of the Parliament and the Committee on Further Reform of Electoral and Other Legislation.
GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
SECTOR FOR INFORMING THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE EU AND THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS
