The European elections ensured continuity for the support of Montenegro on the way to membership in the European Union (EU), assessed the correspondent of Jutarnji list and other media from Brussels, Augustin Palokaj.
Palokaj stated this in the author's text for the portal of the Montenegrin Ministry of European Affairs (MEP).
"The recently concluded European elections, based on the results of which the leaders of the EU institutions will be elected for the next five-year term, ensured the continuity of the European Parliament (EP) in supporting the process of enlargement of the European Union, including Montenegro, which is a leader in that process," he said. Calm down.
As he said, the positive news from those elections is that there was no growth of the extreme right in the EP, as some had predicted, and that pro-European groups secured dominance for the next five years as well.
"At least 500 out of a total of 720 newly-elected and some re-elected MPs certainly belong to pro-European groups," said Palokaj.
He pointed out that, with minor changes, the three largest political groups maintained their positions, with the Liberals from the Renew party experiencing a considerable decline, but the European Nardona Party (EPP) strengthened its leading position and recorded a significant increase, while the Social Democrats had only a small insignificant decline.
Palokaj reminded that the EPP jumped from 176 seats to 186, which is ten more, while the Social Democrats kept second place with a drop from 139 to 135 seats, which is only four less.
"This is "only four", because they made up for the heavy defeat in Germany, which normally has the largest number of deputies, with growth in some other countries," Polokaj said.
As he stated, liberals from the Renew party, founded by French President Emmanuel Macron, fell the most.
"They lost more than 20 seats, because they dropped from 102 they had before to 80. But they narrowly managed to save the third position, which they can lose only if some new parties join the group of conservatives and reformists ECR. The Greens dropped significantly, from 71 to 53, which is not insignificant," Palokaj said.
He stressed that the huge growth of the extreme right that some had predicted did not happen.
"The far-right parties are classified in the group Identity and Democracy (ID), and the main role in that group is played by the French party led by Marine Le Pen. That political group got only nine seats more, because it jumped from 49 to 58 seats," Palokaj said.
As he said, of course there remain around 100 MPs who are not aligned to political groups, or undecided, some of whom could join this group, or create a new radical coalition.
"Especially since the Alternative for Germany (AfD) was expelled from the ID. But it would not be a significant growth of the extreme right in the European Parliament either. The European conservatives remained at approximately the same number, with only one or two more MPs, and are now in 73 parliamentary seats," Palokaj added.
According to him, even if ECR were to be included in the extreme right, even they together with the ID group do not exceed 150 seats out of 720 in the Parliament.
"And the ECR is by no means the extreme right, although they are conservatives who oppose deeper integration within the EU and the transfer of additional national powers to the hands of joint EU institutions in Brussels. But, regarding the issue of the enlargement of the European Union, the ECR is extremely positive," said Palokaj.
He said that, as far as the composition of the new European Parliament is concerned, Montenegro can be calm and count on having a strong wind at its back.
"Not only will the EP support Montenegro, as well as other countries of the Western Balkan region, but they will also insist on significantly speeding up accession negotiations and pressure EU member states not to block or complicate the process with various conditions," Palokaj believes.
He emphasized that, likewise, Montenegro must count on the fact that the great majority in this EP convocation will be critical of Russia, so they will demand strict adherence to sanctions against Russia and the prevention of any interference by Russia in countries that want to join the EU.
"Montenegro will be constantly expected to prove that it is unreservedly committed to EU integration and that, as a NATO member and a candidate for EU membership, it will not question its pro-Western orientation under any circumstances," said Palokaj.
As he said, in the case of abandoning the complete alignment of positions in foreign policy with those of the EU, Montenegro may jeopardize the leading position it has in the accession negotiations with the European Union.
"That's why the EU, after every meeting they have with Montenegrin representatives, repeat that they welcome the fact that Montenegro continues to have 100 percent compliance with the EU on these issues as proof of the country's geostrategic orientation," said Palokaj.
He pointed out that, in addition to the European elections, a positive report on the fulfillment of transitional criteria from chapters 23 and 24 in the accession negotiations (IBAR) also came as a strong message for Montenegro.
"As chapter 23, which concerns the rule of law, has the epithet "mother of all chapters" and has an impact on the process of closing other chapters, this IBAR can and should be a turning point in Montenegro's accession negotiations. Concretely, this should be reflected in the closing of negotiation chapters for which it was determined that the conditions have been met," said Palokaj.
He said that, although it is safe to say that the European elections will not have a negative impact on Montenegro's path towards the EU, nor on the enlargement process in general, there is danger from certain EU members in which the extreme right has either won or strengthened.
Palokaj said that an example of this is the Netherlands, where a new government is expected to be formed led by the far-right Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, known for its opposition to EU enlargement.
"As enlargement still remains a process in which at every step decisions are adopted unanimously in the Council of the EU, therefore each member state has the right of veto, the growth of the right in the member states is a greater danger than the noise that far-right MPs can create in the EP, where they are anyway isolated on the issue of expansion", said Palokaj.
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