Montenegro has made limited progress and is moderately prepared in the development of a functional market economy.
This was shown by the European Commission's (EC) report on enlargement, which was adopted yesterday.
One of the recommendations is that Montenegro should focus on the effective implementation of legislation on public procurement and public-private partnership and fully comply with EU rules on public procurement in all cases, such as the awarding of concessions for the management of airports.
"The unstable political situation has led to a looser fiscal policy and a slowdown in structural reforms," the report concluded.
It is said that the technical government has been unable to implement priority reforms to address economic challenges, and reforms of state-owned enterprises have slowed down. No medium-term fiscal consolidation strategy has been adopted to deal with vulnerabilities in light of the coming large debt repayment installments.
"The controversial economic citizenship program, which supported public revenue but conflicted with the country's obligations to the EU, expired at the end of 2022. However, many unprocessed applications continued to be considered even in 2023," the report says. .
In the field of competition, Montenegro is moderately prepared and some progress has been achieved in the further monitoring of several cases of state aid, including the cases of "Montenegro Airlines" and "Air Montenegro", by adopting by-laws in the field of state aid and hiring additional staff, which strengthened the administrative capacities.
"Decisions and opinions of the state aid authority (Competition Protection Agency) are published in a timely manner in state aid registers, which further increases transparency. Recommendations from last year remain valid," said the EC.
One of the recommendations is that in the next year, Montenegro closes the case of "Montenegro Airlines" and continues with the establishment of a new national airline under the name "Air Montenegro", "in order to provide clarity regarding state aid and legal continuity between these two companies , as well as progress in other important current investigations of undeclared/possible state aid (including 'Uniprom' KAP, Bar-Boljare highway) and, if necessary, recover the appropriate funds".
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