Accelerating the European path of Montenegro is an imperative and a key task of the current Montenegrin Government, Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić said in a conversation with the Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for values and transparency, Vera Jurova.
As announced by the Government, Bečić and the Minister of Internal Affairs, Danilo Saranović, spoke with Jurov today, during a working visit to Brussels.
Bečić emphasized that the Government is working diligently to fulfill the remaining temporary standards, pointing to good dynamics in relation to the planned deadlines in order to obtain the Report on fulfillment of temporary standards (IBAR).
"Our next goal is to obtain the IBAR and we are working really fast, very dedicatedly and dedicatedly to fulfill the remaining temporary benchmarks," said Bečić.
According to him, all nine draft laws in the field of media and the rule of law were sent to the EC for an opinion, and numerous benchmarks were met.
Bečić said that the draft laws were sent to the EC in mid-March and added that he expects Montenegro to receive opinions soon so that the draft laws could be sent to the Parliament.
"Precise regulation of the issue of media registration, increasing allocations for the Media Pluralism Fund, fighting against hate speech and misinformation, strengthening the independence of the public service, tightening the criteria for selection to key management and leadership positions, ensuring the sustainability of local public broadcasters, protecting journalists and their sources, are some of the numerous newspapers enacted by the media laws," said Bečić.
He added that the Ministry of Internal Affairs has completed most of the work.
"We have extremely good dynamics in relation to the planned deadlines, and by receiving IBAR, Montenegro gets the opportunity to close several chapters already this year and take a key step towards finalizing the process itself," Bečić pointed out.
As stated in the announcement, Jurova, in the conversation with Bečić and Saranović, congratulated on the progress achieved in Montenegro.
"Given that this year, for the first time, Montenegro is included in the EU's reporting mechanism on the rule of law in the member states, Jurova particularly emphasized that the report will recognize the results achieved by Montenegro in the key areas of justice, anti-corruption and media freedom, stressing that the media is a pillar of democracy," the statement said.
It is added that Jurova conveyed a message of support in the implementation of further reform processes on the way to Montenegro's membership in the EU.
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