The Vice-President of the Government of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, will be on his first official visit to Brussels from March 16 to 18, where he will present the state of negotiations in Montenegro to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament (AFET). The platform for the visit was adopted by the Government at its session on Thursday.
He will address the Committee regarding the adoption of the Draft Resolution of the European Parliament for Montenegro for 2019 and 2020, whose proponent is the rapporteur for Montenegro in the EP, Tonino Picula.
At the end of March or the beginning of April, a vote is expected before AFET, and in May, the adoption of the EP Resolution on Montenegro during the plenary session.
The document states that the emphasis in the talks will be on topics in the area of the rule of law and environmental protection, which "will be an opportunity to present the current situation in these areas in Montenegro with the interlocutors and to exchange opinions on future plans and the further course of negotiations and further reform and development path".
Abazović will also meet with the Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelji, Vice President of the European Commission Vera Jurova and Commissioner for the Environment and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius, and meetings with NATO officials and representatives of the European Parliament have also been requested.
"Meetings with European officials will be an opportunity to once again confirm Montenegro's clear determination to continue working on reforms in the area of the rule of law, as the backbone of the negotiation process with the EU, all with the aim of speeding up the negotiation process and more dynamically entering the next phase - temporary closure negotiation chapters," the government's platform states.
It is emphasized that the area of the environment is in the focus of the EU agenda for the next period, and the talks, as stated, will be an opportunity to affirm cooperation in this area, along the lines of the presented Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, as well as defined activities within the Economic - investment plan.
The draft EP report on Montenegro published in February expresses "serious concern" about the limited progress in the fight against corruption, and the responsible institutions are called on to improve the country's past results in confiscation of criminal assets, criminal prosecutions and final judgments. The report is first voted on at the Foreign Policy Committee and then at the plenary session, when it takes the form of a Resolution of the European Parliament.
The MEPs submitted more than two hundred amendments to the Draft Report, and they concern, among other things, the need for local elections to be held on the same day, necessary consultations with European partners before amending key laws that were drafted with the support of the European Commission, external influences on elections in Montenegro...
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