Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorcevic, she assessed that she does not expect Zagreb to block Podgorica's negotiations with the European Union (EU) because the Montenegrin parliament recently adopted the Resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps, and said that it does not help Montenegro that it deals with issues from of the past.
She said in an interview with "Vijesta" via e-mail that Croatia will not block Podgorica not only because the Croatian Parliament adopted the "Declaration on the Promotion of European Values" in 2011, with which the country undertook not to block the accession of candidate countries from the Western Balkans due to bilateral issues, "but because there are no reasons for such action".
After the adoption of the resolution, Croatia warned of the possibility of blocking Montenegro's path to the EU, recalling unresolved bilateral issues - the border on Prevlaca, the issue of ownership of the ship "Jadran", compensation to the families of prisoners in the Morinj camp...
Commenting on the postponement of the visit of the President of the European Council Charles Michel After the adoption of the resolution, Gorčević said to Podgorica that his decision was legitimate and that Montenegro does not perceive the EU as an instance that hands out packages to anyone.
"The attitude of official Brussels, the European Commission, the European Council and other EU institutions towards Montenegro has always been and remains filled with respect and the best intentions. Should the 75 million euros that the EU recently allocated for five Montenegrin infrastructure projects be interpreted as a 'package'? I want to assure you that the 44th Government will promptly remove every obstacle that can be found on our European path. The closing of the chapter, which, I am sure, will follow by the end of this year, at the next intergovernmental conference, will be the only relevant judgment on this topic," said Gorčević.
After receiving a positive Report on Assessment of the Fulfillment of Criteria for Chapters 23 and 24 (IBAR), Montenegro was assigned six final criteria for Chapters 23 and 24, which relate to judicial reform, the fight against corruption, respect for human rights, migration, asylum and visas , and organized crime. In what time frame must the state implement those benchmarks, which will be the most difficult to meet and why, and what will be your first steps in this regard?
After receiving a positive IBAR, Montenegro was assigned six final benchmarks for chapters 23 and 24, which relate to judicial reform, the fight against corruption, respect for human rights, migration, asylum and visas, and organized crime. Although it is always ungrateful to talk about deadlines, because the implementation of activities is influenced by a large number of factors, often external ones, which are outside our zone of influence, such as global trends and challenges - the strategic commitment is to become the 28th member of the EU by 2028 . years. This means that by 2026, i.e. two and a half years at the latest, we must fulfill our obligations in all negotiation chapters, including chapters 23 and 24, which are closed at the very end of the negotiation process. Strengthening the rule of law system and the fight against corruption and organized crime will be our absolute priority until the very end of the accession negotiations, bearing in mind the sensitivity of these issues and their far-reaching importance for the overall democratic development of Montenegro. Aware of this fact, we have already taken the first steps and conducted consultations with the heads of the negotiating working groups for chapters 23 and 24, and within the negotiating working groups, the development of action plans to address the final benchmarks will soon begin.
Chief negotiator Predrag Zenović recently estimated that Montenegro can close three chapters by the end of the year - 7 (intellectual property rights), 10 (information society and media) and 20 (entrepreneurship and industrial policy). What else needs to be done to close those chapters, and when can we expect to close the remaining ones? Which chapters, after those mentioned, can be among the first to be ready to close and when?
According to the new methodology, according to which Montenegro has been negotiating since 2020, it is prescribed that we cannot close any negotiation chapter until we receive a positive IBAR for chapters 23 and 24. work was also done on other negotiation chapters. So now we have several chapters that have achieved internal readiness for closure. The three chapters mentioned by the chief negotiator, with minimal interventions, can be closed immediately. But we have decided not to be satisfied with that number and to do everything in our power to identify all chapters that are close to internal readiness for closure and do everything in our power to prepare them for closure by the next Intergovernmental Conference.
How many chapters will be closed at the next Intergovernmental Conference depends on several factors. First of all, from the date of the conference - the later it is scheduled, the more work we will be able to complete, and we should definitely take into account the upcoming changes in the Brussels administration. An equally important factor is the cooperation of the Assembly and the Government, thanks to which we have the passability of legislative initiatives important for harmonization with the EU legal acquis, as in the case of the effective adoption of the IBAR law. Ultimately, the readiness of the European partners to process the steps we will take in the coming months is of crucial importance, but I have no doubt that the EU institutions will remain favorable to the enlargement policy.
Your party claims that the visit of the President of the EU Council Charles Michel to Montenegro was not postponed because the parliament adopted the Resolution on the genocide in Jasenovac and the Dachau and Mauthausen camps, but because of "events in the parliament directed by the DPS", whose deputies on Monday (1 . July) blocked the lectern in the Parliament, not allowing the holding of the prime minister's hour. If we ignore the fact that the visit was postponed before the move by the DPS, then why was the sentence removed from the draft text of the European Council declaration that the body "welcomes the latest Intergovernmental Conference with Montenegro and highlights the progress that Montenegro has achieved in the accession process"? Have you been informed at whose request that part was deleted from the draft?
The club of PES deputies, in a statement dated July 3, did not announce that the events in the parliament under the direction of DPS were the reason for the absence of the President of the European Council. PES cannot speak for Mr. Michel, nor can we bid on the reasons for postponing his visit. Unfortunately, your media tended to take one sentence from our announcement out of context. If you read the aforementioned announcement again, you will recognize the accusations of our club of deputies against the account Dritan Abazović and DPS, who created political tensions in the Montenegrin parliament days before and after receiving the IBAR, with the aim of devaluing the results achieved by the 44th Government and the parliamentary majority. Since Mr. Michel did not give explicit reasons for postponing his visit, but mentioned "political events", we communicated a legitimate position: that we are not surprised by that argument, if we take into account the non-constructive behavior of the opposition in the parliament.
Regarding the second part of your question, the content of the document known as "European Council Conclusions" is a consequence of the agreement of all participants, from the first draft to the revisions, in which the permanent representatives of the member states (through COREPER2) and the ministers of European affairs (through the GAC) participate, but the members of the European Council have a special influence, namely the prime ministers, or less often the presidents of the member states with the right of veto. It is inappropriate for me, from the position of Minister of European Affairs, to enter into the interpretations of possible lobbying to delete the sentence about Montenegrin success, because the reasons can vary from technical to political.
If you don't see the postponement of Michel's visit and the removal of a part of the text about Montenegro as a duck from the EU, then how do you view it?
As a legitimate decision of the President of the European Council. Montenegro, as a candidate country, does not perceive the European Union as an instance that distributes, as you pejoratively put it, a "packet" to anyone. The relationship of official Brussels, the European Commission, the European Council and other EU institutions towards Montenegro has always been and remains filled with respect and the best intentions. Should the 75 million euros that the EU recently allocated for five Montenegrin infrastructure projects be interpreted as a "package"? I want to assure you that the 44th Government will promptly remove every obstacle that can be found on our European path. The closing of the chapter, which I am sure will follow by the end of this year, at the next intergovernmental conference, will be the only relevant judgment on this topic.
Is it true that Croatia, during the Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels at which Montenegro received IBAR, warned representatives of the Montenegrin government four times not to adopt the mentioned resolution?
Not true, the claim you make is misinformation.
Do you expect Croatia to block Montenegro in negotiations with the EU because of the resolution? If you expect - why, if you don't expect - why not?
The Republic of Croatia has been a sincere and reliable partner and friend since the beginning of the process of accession of Montenegro to the European Union. Therefore, I do not expect that Croatia will block our European path, not only because the Croatian Parliament adopted the "Declaration on the Promotion of European Values" in 2011, by which the Croatian state undertook not to block the accession of candidate countries from the Western Balkans, due to bilateral issues, but because that there are no reasons for such action. The Republic of Croatia is a country that has taken an unequivocal and highly moral stance towards the events in Jasenovac, and therefore the adopted resolution has and cannot have anything to do with modern Croatia and the Croatian people. Montenegro will show its sincere good-neighborly intentions towards Croatia in the months ahead. I believe that there will be no lack of reciprocity from the Croatian side, and that Croatia and Montenegro will continue to resolve open issues of mutual interest in the spirit of friendship and good neighborly relations.
Do you share the opinion of Prime Minister Milojko Spajić, expressed in an interview with "Politik" before the resolution was voted on, that its adoption harms Montenegro?
I share Prime Minister Spajić's opinion that it does not help Montenegro to deal with the past, but that the future is our rallying point. But politics is not an ideal profession and very often it imposes on you topics that you do not want to deal with. When the political context forces a certain topic upon you, the only correct way to deal with it is to be consistent. That is why we are convinced that our attitude towards the resolutions on Srebrenica and Jasenovac was fair and principled.
How do you interpret the message of President Milatović, that the leaders of the parties of the parliamentary majority, by not attending the meeting with him, on the subject of European integration, showed "attitude towards the European perspective of Montenegro"?
The attitude towards the European perspective is demonstrated by hard work, daily inter-institutional coordination, commitment to technical issues, but also to communication through political-diplomatic channels, and certainly not by attending arbitrary meeting formats. I expect that everyone whose competences are expected to deal with the essence of European integration will be fully subordinated to that goal, and that everyone else will at least refrain from relativizing the success of the state of Montenegro. Nevertheless, I hope that the meeting of the opposition organized by Mr. Milatović was fruitful and that it will result in their constructiveness in the further accession process.
We will ask for money for nine energy projects
When will the reform agenda be adopted by which Montenegro will apply for money from the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, that is, for the new EU financial package for the countries of the region, and what are the key projects for which the country will seek funding?
At the session on June 20, the government adopted the Information on the process of preparing the Reform Agenda, with the Proposal for basic reform measures and steps. The work team is currently finalizing the narrative part of the document according to the form defined by the European Commission. After harmonizing the document with the competent services of the European Commission, it will be submitted to the Government for consideration and adoption. I expect that the whole process will be completed by September, when the European Commission announced the payment of the first tranche of funds. In parallel with the activities on the drafting of the Reform Agenda, the Ministry of European Affairs, in cooperation with the relevant ministries, carried out the process of mapping infrastructure projects within the priority sectors for financing, namely energy, transport, human capital development and digital infrastructure. After consultation with the European Commission, the list of projects contains 9 priority projects in the field of energy, 3 in the field of digital infrastructure, 3 in the field of transport and 44 in the field of human capital development, i.e. infrastructure development at all levels of education. The list of projects is still indicative, and in the next steps we will work on the detailed preparation of the projects and their gradual application for funding, respecting the dynamics of the allocation of EU funds.
We must not miss Hungary's propensity for enlargement
What do you expect from Hungary's presidency of the Union, bearing in mind that this country advocates many anti-EU policies? Does that worry you?
During my visit to Hungary in April this year and meetings with the highest officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Sijart, I received very optimistic messages when it comes to the enlargement of the EU to the Western Balkans. Special support and focus on candidate countries from the Western Balkans during Hungary's presidency of the Council of the European Union was announced. The same messages were repeated during the recent visit of the Minister of European Affairs of Hungary, Janos Boka, to Montenegro, as well as that great attention during the presidency will be devoted to the Western Balkans, and especially to Montenegro as the most advanced candidate. A large number of very important events that will take place in Montenegro in the next six months have been announced, as well as the holding of the Intergovernmental Conference at which Montenegro would start closing the negotiation chapters. Hungary is a member state of the EU, and the support of each member state is of key importance to us. What we, at this stage of the negotiations and after the momentum we gained with the positive IBAR, must not miss is Hungary's preference for the enlargement policy and the chance to make significant steps on our European path by the end of the year.
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