At a working lunch with ambassadors of EU member states accredited to Montenegro, Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović and Chief Negotiator Aleksandar Drljević discussed the results achieved in the EU accession process and presented the activities planned for this year.
The event was organized as part of a joint project implemented by the European Integration Office and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, which is aimed at informing the public about Montenegro’s EU accession process.
Minister Radulović stressed that the Montenegrin Administration has met all the commitments under Chapter 27 – Environment and Climate Change, and that he expects the chapter to be opened by the end of this year.
He recalled that Chapter 27 is one of the most complex and most expensive and that more than €200 million has been invested in the past ten years in waste management, wastewater management and the development of water supply and sewage network in all Montenegrin municipalities.
According to the Minister, investments have also been made in improving air quality and preserving biodiversity, through the management of protected areas and protection of flora and fauna.
“In addition to the rule of law and economic development, environmental protection is one of Montenegro’s key priorities. I believe that the opening of negotiations in this area will represent an incentive for implementing good quality reforms within the timeframe defined in the negotiating position,” Radulović noted.
Drljević reminded of key results achieved in the negotiation process, with a focus on results in the area of rule of law.
He pointed out that fulfilment of provisional benchmarks from Chapters 23 and 24, as well as the finalization of work on fulfilling final benchmarks, is in the focus of the Government and the negotiating structure.
“Although there is still a lot of work ahead of us, I am convinced that after six years of negotiations we have results that we can be satisfied with. Bearing in mind that the legislative and institutional framework is almost rounded up, the Government and the negotiating structure will focus on achieving measurable results in practice in the coming period, which will bring higher quality of life to citizens”, Drljević said.
GENERAL SECRETARIAT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
SECTOR FOR INFORMING THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE EU AND THE EU ACCESSION PROCESS