Montenegro needs to quickly and focussedly move towards membership in the European Union (EU), in order to take advantage of the existence of political will in the Union and among the member states, which does not have to last until the end of the accession process, said the chief negotiator with the EU, Predrag Zenović.
In an interview with the MINA agency, he said that there are already indications that the political will that exists among the member states will not be the same until the end of the Montenegrin negotiations.
According to Zenović, the deadline for joining the Union until 2028 is ambitious, but realistic, and along the way, in addition to political-diplomatic challenges, there will also be administrative-technical challenges, which is why the state must make maximum efforts.
“The enlargement process primarily depends on the inherent will of the member states. It is their sovereign will whether they want to complete their team with other countries or not,” said Zenović.
He said that the policy of the EU institutions is also important and added that the heads of the European Commission (EC) were mostly people who believed in the importance of the enlargement policy.
As Zenović said, since 2003 there have been no clear time frames and positive signals for the Western Balkans, although there are pre-accession funds that are comprehensive and target all key challenges in the transitional society.
“When there is a will for expansion, then everything else depends on the candidate country,” Zenović stressed.
Referring to complaints that the speed of change often comes at the expense of quality, he emphasized that sometimes the lack of speed takes away any quality and the existence of any reform.
“It seems to me that the dice have fallen into place, the political will on both sides, on the EU side in terms of the member states, but also in Brussels, who should coordinate that process, who should create administrative and other assumptions for that process to be conducted, and we got one acceleration,” said Zenović.
He added that this acceleration in integration is largely the result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and the overall geopolitical momentum.
“But it is certainly also a reflection of fatigue, not from expansion, but fatigue from non-expansion, fatigue of the European idea due to the fact that new dynamics are not being realized,” said Zenović.
Reminding of the deadlines for membership until 2030, he said that he believes that the new ambition defined by the Government of Montenegro, as well as other political actors, is good and realistic, as well as that it has the support of the EC.
Zenović assessed that, with support and a clear determination for EU membership, the defined deadlines are achievable and that Montenegro can become a full member of the EU by 2028.
Asked what is the key thing he will do so that Montenegro, which has been in negotiations since 2012, would not miss the current momentum of enlargement, he said that the momentum that is currently strong does not have to last forever.
“Geopolitics is changeable, the policies of great powers are changeable, and in a world of constant changes, a small society and a small state cannot really rely on some certainties that do not exist. For this reason, if there is this momentum, it should be used”, said Zenović.
He reiterated that commitment and speed are key, adding that experience shows that whenever something went slowly, it was usually a sign that there was a lack of communication and political will at some higher levels.
“For this reason, I think that in this constellation of stars that have aligned so well for Montenegro, we need to move quickly, focused and clearly towards EU membership,” Zenović said.
Answering the question of what will be the main challenges on the way to closing all chapters by 2026, he pointed to the existence of a diplomatic-political, but also a technical-administrative-expert stream of integration.
He pointed out that the political will must be clear in the state, among the members of the Union, but also at the EU level.
Zenović said that the consensus of the Government, the parliamentary majority, political parties and society on membership in the Union is significant and that it should remain so until the end because, as he stated, Montenegro has two stormy years ahead of it.
He added that, when it comes to Montenegrin membership, there is political will on the part of the Union and the member states.
“The will of the member states exists and at this moment it was, as you have seen, unrelenting when it comes to Montenegro, and we already know that there are indications that this may not be the case until the end of this process,” Zenović said.
He said that it is very important that all diplomatic channels, meetings at the highest possible level take place and that points of dispute are identified and resolved through the diplomatic framework.
Commenting on relations with Croatia, Zenović stated that there are many points of convergence between Montenegro and that country and that they have a clear vision of this in the negotiating structure, as well as that Croatian experts are strongly represented in the entire team of Montenegro.
“That’s why it’s very important that we start this political-diplomatic mechanism, dialogue, and see how to eliminate all these noises and simply move forward together in this process of European integration,” said Zenović.
Speaking about the four chapters that Montenegro should close by the end of the year, Zenović informed that the adoption of the Report on the Fulfillment of Temporary Benchmarks for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR) was a step forward and a “big censorship” for Montenegro.
IBAR, as he said, was not only a step forward in terms of reform processes in the area of government law, as a fundamental, crucially important segment of every European policy and accession process, but also a condition for Montenegro to continue with the temporary closure of negotiating views.
“That is the essence of the process itself. And I think that, in this respect, IBAR was a big censorship”, stated Zenović, adding that the segment of unlocking the European process and closing the chapter is a big step forward.
Zenović said that at the next Intergovernmental Conference in December, after several years, Montenegro should temporarily close the chapters, namely Chapter 7 – Intellectual Property, 10 – Information Society and Media, 20 – Industrial Policies and Entrepreneurship, as well as Chapter 31 which refers to the foreign and security policy of Montenegro.
“There are different topics, but these are the chapters in which we have a high level of internal readiness,” Zenović added.
Asked whether the Reform Agenda can speed up the process of Montenegro’s accession to the Union, he pointed out that it is a signal to the EU that enlargement is important and that it should not be approached only through bureaucratic, legislative moments, but that reforms should be sought, but also great support for those areas that are of vital importance for people in Montenegro.
“I believe that the Reform Agenda will be the driving force behind the entire negotiation process,” Zenović said.
When asked if the state has enough capacity to follow the dynamics that are needed to close the chapter, he answered that the fact is that, in terms of administrative capacity, there is a gap between what Montenegro should have at the end of the negotiation process and what it has in this moment owns.
He said that because of this, as a negotiating group, they initiated the creation of a horizontal analysis, which will go through all chapters and through Montenegrin capacities, in order to see what is lacking, in terms of quantity, training, and institutions.
“We will map those three dimensions of administrative capacity, and I believe that this is a document that should have already been drawn up, but I think that this is also a good moment to draw a line and that after that document, its analysis, the Government will decide with concrete steps on in the field of administrative capacity of Montenegro”, said Zenović.
He, commenting on the proposal for the composition of the new EC and the fact that Marta Kos, a representative from Slovenia, has been proposed as Commissioner for Enlargement, said that the image of the EC with the new composition is a reflection of political life within all democracies of the Union.
Pointing to the supranational character of the EC, Zenović pointed out that the commissioners do not represent the member states, but the EU as a whole.
He said that Slovenia has specific experience with the accession process and added that he is sure that Commissioner Kos will reflect that experience on the candidate countries.
“In the process of European integration, Slovenia is a great friend of Montenegro, this can be seen in the international context and in bilateral meetings,” said Zenović, recalling the support that Slovenia provides to all the countries of the Western Balkans, and in the first place to Montenegro.
Zenović believes that this is also a very positive signal for Montenegro.