Montenegro, with the continued support of the European Union, in the conditions of the coronavirus pandemic, is making progress and continues to implement extensive reforms in the direction of full compliance with the legal acquis and EU standards, which is confirmed by the achieved results, it was assessed at today's meeting of the Subcommittee for Trade, Industry, Customs and taxes.
At the 14th meeting of this Subcommittee between Montenegro and the European Union, which was held online, and which covers chapters 1 - Freedom of movement of goods, 16 - Taxes, 20 - Entrepreneurship and industrial policy, 29 - Customs Union and 30 - External relations, representatives competent Montenegrin institutions informed the EC representatives about the activities carried out in the previous period in these areas.
"The holding of this Subcommittee comes at a very significant moment, in anticipation of the publication of the European Commission's Report on Montenegro for 2021, which represents important guidelines for charting the path to reaching European standards and a higher level of quality of life for our citizens," said Deputy Chief Negotiator Marko Mrdak opening the meeting.
Mrdak noted that among the negotiation chapters that are the subject of the meeting, there are candidates for temporary closure after satisfactory results are obtained in the area of the rule of law.
He said that within all the chapters that are the subject of Podobor, work is continuously being done on harmonization with the legal acquis and EU standards.
He expressed his satisfaction that in the past period the Institute for Standardization of Montenegro became a full member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), pointing out that activities are being carried out to prepare an application for membership in the European organizations CEN/CENELEC by the end of 2021, which will create additional conditions to remove barriers to trade.
When it comes to Chapter 16 - Taxes, Mrdak reminded that the application of the online fiscalization system in real time began on June 1, 2021 for all taxpayers in accordance with the Fiscalization Law, pointing out that the new service will enable a better overview and control of recorded traffic.
He pointed out that, in the area of entrepreneurship and industrial policy, Montenegro completed its strategic framework related to industrial policy and fulfilled the obligations defined in the framework of the only final criterion, but that it is committed to the adoption of legal and strategic solutions with the aim of improving the business environment , as well as providing financial support to micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as women's entrepreneurship.
Deputy Head of the Unit for Montenegro and Serbia in the General Directorate for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Barbara Jesus-Zimeno, she emphasized the strong commitment of the European Commission to the socio-economic recovery of Montenegro and its path to the EU, as illustrated by the recent visit of the President of the EC, von der Leyen, to Podgorica.
She noted that Montenegro's progress in the free movement of goods (chapter 1), taxation (chapter 16), entrepreneurial and industrial policy (chapter 20), customs (chapter 29) and trade (chapter 30), which were discussed at today's meeting, the road to recovery and membership in the EU. "In addition to hard work at the technical level, addressing these priorities will require strengthening political focus, functional public administration and retaining the EU expertise built up over the past years," she pointed out.
Jesus-Žimeno added that the upcoming annual report on Montenegro will provide clear guidelines for further progress in the accession negotiations, and that the adoption of the new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA III) and the Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans represents an investment in the common future of the EU and Montenegro.
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