Gorčević: We are working on two more chapters that we will have completed internally by the end of the year

By the end of the year, Montenegro will have two more negotiation chapters internally ready for closing, said Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević.

DPS MP Ivan Vuković said, at today's Assembly session, that Gorčević announced in an interview for the MINA agency in June that ten chapters would be closed by the end of the year, and that today the government is announcing the closure of four as an ambitious plan.

Gorčević replied that the accession process is a technical process, but also that Montenegro has been negotiating for 12 years.

"During the year of this Government, processes were unblocked and a positive IBAR was obtained, and you yourself participated in that. It is epoch-making to talk about four chapters, because in 12 years we have succeeded in only three, and in a year we are closing four. My statement was ambitious, but it read 'up to ten'. We sent four final reports, specifically for chapters seven, ten, 20 and 31, that is - intellectual property, research society and media, and foreign, security and security policy four final reports, we are internally ready for closure. Now everything is in the hands of the European Commission (EC) and the 27 member states that will decide whether Montenegro will close those four chapters. As our ambition dictates, we have not stopped at We are already working on two more that we will have completed internally by the end of the year," she announced.

Vuković pointed out that Gorčević, as an adviser, was part of the 42nd Government, and that she also bears responsibility for the fact that chapters have not been closed for years.

As he added, it is impossible that she did not know the position of the European partners regarding the plan to close the ten chapters, because nothing has changed in relation to the priorities of the presidency.

"Either you misled the citizens, or something happened in the meantime. And the reconstruction of the Government took place. On that occasion, people who are proven enemies of the European idea became part of the executive power thanks to your party leader, and since then the talk of European integration has increasingly been reduced to a mere form. , and lose what is the essence. You, all together, are faking commitment to this process. You see what things dominate the public space," Vuković said.

The MP of the DPS said that they "boasted" about filling the positions in the prosecutor's office, and that there is no seventh judge, that her colleague (Jelena Nedović) does not ask the Administrative Committee to remove the immunity of the MP (Marko Kovačević) at the request of the prosecutor's office, but also that Kovačević does not want to resign from the post of deputy, even though that position, in the opinion of the ASK, is incompatible with the position of the president of the municipality...

"These people are not interested in the opinion of the state authorities of Montenegro. You are talking about 100% compliance with the foreign and security policy of the EU, and four ministers did not vote to extend the sanctions against Russia. You are talking about the need to build good neighborly relations, the President of the Assembly denies the genocide in Srebrenica, the Deputy Prime Minister denies independence of Kosovo, the three leaders of the ruling coalition cannot fly over Croatia..." he pointed out.

"The growth plan will only bring benefits to the citizens"

The member of the Socialist People's Party (SNP) Bogdan Božović reminded that the EC recently approved the implementation plan of multi-sector reform measures of the Government, thanks to which Montenegro expects 383 million euros from the European Instrument for Growth and Development, with the condition that all reforms are fulfilled within the stipulated time.

Božović asked the minister if she could explain in detail which set of reforms will be implemented in the first period of this agenda, that is, with the first tranche expected by the end of the year.

"The growth plan is an instrument that will only bring benefits to citizens. Not only through economic empowerment and certain tranches, but also through reforms that will serve citizens for better business. Although finances and money were never our motive for joining the EU, somehow the entire reform agenda it goes hand in hand with the accession process itself and that is what is really important," said Gorčević.

She added that the first tranche will be around 29 million euros, and that it refers to reforms in the private sector and revision of the public procurement process, improvement of the electronic cadastre, reforms of inspection services, green energy, and fundamental rights and the rule of law.