The representatives of the European Union (EU) in Montenegro would contribute much more to the integration process of Montenegro if they were to take seriously the work for which they came here, the Civic Alliance (GA) announced today.
The non-governmental organization (NGO) said that they express great concern that even after eight long years since the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels, and the just-started negotiations on membership with the EU, there is no end in sight to the process that was supposed to transform Montenegrin society.
"After eight years, we have open 32 out of a total of 33 negotiation chapters, of which Chapter 8 - Competition, which we expect to open these days, is unopened, while only three chapters are temporarily closed, namely Chapter 25 - Science and research, Chapter 26 - Education and culture and Chapter 30 - Foreign relations. The first predictions, joined by the then first negotiator Aleksandar Pejović, mentioned 2018 as the deadline. Today we see that we are still far from the goal, and we have behind us a great deal of wasted time without essential reforms and insufficient determination in fulfilling obligations," the statement of the GA points out.
They added that Croatia completed the negotiations in six years, that Iceland opened and closed chapters 23 and 24 in one day.
"After the strategic and legislative framework was initially adopted, Montenegro entered the phase of painful confrontation with the illusion that the adoption of good laws is enough. Measurable results are constantly missing, so the phrase of the Brussels technocrats about the "necessity of applying the adopted laws" has become general a place in the Montenegrin public discourse, which over time takes on the characteristics of a cultural stereotype. The fact is that nothing has fundamentally changed over the years, and that the timid advances in the sensitive areas of Chapters 23 and 24 are often overwhelmed by extremely bad personnel decisions and failures in practice that are the only possible to explain through the prism of absolute disinterest in the integration process," said the GA.
From that NGO, they said that joining the EU is reduced to the adoption of European values and standards, and their declarative acceptance, and that this is simply not enough anymore.
"Moreover, the more persistently the flouting of those standards is repeated, and in practice the opposite is done - the more the entire process takes on the elements of a theatrical performance for ordinary citizens. Namely, it is incomprehensible that after so many statements from the highest state addresses about EU values - that despite the recommendations of the European Commission , the president of the Supreme Court is serving her third term, our key institutions are in good condition, numerous affairs have not resulted in final verdicts, war crimes are still shrouded in the past. In chapters such as ecology, freedom of the media, competition, fisheries, we are only taking the first steps "Simply, all the results achieved so far are the result of pressure from outside, and not a real desire for changes for the better," said the GA.
They also state that one of the biggest challenges facing the political scene is certainly the lack of political dialogue between parties, especially in an election year, so, as they say from the GA, it will be allowed to hold another election cycle according to the law that the international community has labeled as necessary for overhaul.
"On the other hand, despite the growing presence of civil society representatives in negotiating working groups and other bodies that participate in reform processes, the influence of NGOs is often reduced to promotional purposes. The dissatisfaction of NGO representatives is constantly increasing and the simulation of dialogue between the public and civil sectors is becoming more and more more visible," says the GA statement.
from that NGO also said that as far as citizens are concerned, the bombardment of forms does not at all help the understanding that EU membership is not a magic wand that solves all social problems, and that their personal attitude towards these problems is extremely important, and that often responsibility for the implementation of European standards often starts with themselves.
"Even if it came down to the attitude towards those political forces whose values, actions and staffing solutions are not in accordance with those standards. And finally, the representatives of the European Union in Montenegro themselves would contribute much more to the process if they took up the work for which have come here. Much less bureaucratic avoidance of the essence of the problem, much less PR approach that boils down to repeating the sums of money that have been allocated for Montenegro, and much more capable staff and principled criticism," the GA statement concludes.
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