Montenegro fulfilled ten of the 14 obligations foreseen in the Reform Agenda by the end of February, so it will receive 18 million euros from the European Union (EU) Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, instead of the planned 29,5 million euros.
This is stated in the First Semi-Annual Report on the Implementation of the Reform Agenda of Montenegro for the EU Instrument for Reform and Growth 2024-2027, which was adopted by the Government on March 13, and submitted to the European Commission by the Ministry of European Affairs (MEP) a day later. Among the "partially fulfilled obligations" is the abolition of visas for at least one country per year in order to align with the EU visa policy.
It is recalled that the maximum available amount of EU support of 14 million euros is linked to the first 29,5 reform steps, reduced proportionally by seven percent of pre-financing.
"When it comes to partially completed steps, Montenegro will use the possibility from Article 21 of EU Regulation 2024/1449 establishing an Instrument for Reforms and Growth, according to which the results for these steps can be achieved after the end of the reporting period within 24 months, without affecting the disbursement of funds allocated by the Reform Agenda for these steps. As these are steps whose implementation is underway and whose results are expected by the middle of this year, the funds related to these four reform steps will be disbursed upon their implementation," the document states.
The Government adopted the Reform Agenda on September 26 last year, and the document contains a total of 32 indicative priority reform measures within four priority sectors - Business Environment and Private Sector Development, Digital and Energy/Green Transition, Human Capital Development, Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights, and 14 sub-sectors.
Implementing the reforms from the Reform Agenda is a condition for receiving money from the Reform and Growth Instrument under the EU Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The Growth Plan is a combination of grants and soft loans for the region totaling six billion euros for the period 2024-2027. 383,5 million euros have been provided for Montenegro, of which 110 million euros are grants and 273,5 million euros are soft loans. The European Commission plans to allocate seven percent of the total amount at the beginning of the implementation of the Growth Plan as a kind of pre-financing, and the rest in six semi-annual tranches of support, depending on the degree of implementation of the planned reforms.
Partially completed steps related to electricity and Spatial Plan
The Ministry of European Affairs told "Vijesti" that ten steps (obligations) from the Reform Agenda have been fully fulfilled, and four partially, and they expect the money (the first tranche) by the end of April.
"When it comes to the implementation of reforms in the first six-month period, the deadline for completing the implementation of the first 14 steps from the Reform Agenda expired on February 28. The assessment of the competent ministries is that this period ended with ten completed and four partially completed steps, which will additionally be the subject of a subsequent assessment by the European Commission. The final assessment of the implementation of all steps by the EC is expected by the end of the second quarter of 2025," they said.
They stated that the steps related to the transposition of the electricity integration package in accordance with the requirements of the Energy Community and the continuation of its implementation have been partially completed.
In addition, they added, public intervention in setting electricity supply prices has been partially phased out in accordance with Article 5 of Directive 2019/944 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity, as well as ensuring the issuance of energy performance certificates (in accordance with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive).
"Additionally, when it comes to the adoption of the Spatial Plan of Montenegro, the completion of this step is expected during the second quarter of 2025," said the MEP.
They explained that there are certain procedural delays in these steps, when it comes to legal solutions that required a broader consultative process and coordination with the competent services of the European Commission, such as the new Energy Law, or the legal basis for the adoption of the new Spatial Plan. In addition, a broader dialogue with the European Commission is also being conducted in the part of the implementation of the steps related to the harmonization of visa policy with the list of EU countries for which visas are required, due to the impact on the economic policy of the Government.
"The assessment of the line ministries responsible for these four steps is that they will be fulfilled by the next reporting period, which expires at the end of June this year," they said.
President of the Supreme Court appointed, registry of state-owned enterprises established...
The First Semi-Annual Report on the Implementation of the Reform Agenda states that, in terms of fulfilled obligations, the President of the Supreme Court was appointed by the end of February and a register of companies owned by the state and municipalities was established.
The transparency of interstate agreements and contracts with third countries has been increased, as stated, by integrating project-specific information into the e-procurement system, and integrity in inspection services has been improved (a mandatory annual declaration of assets and declarations of conflict of interest for inspectors has been introduced, which is subject to checks by the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption).
According to the report, legislation in line with the Renewable Energy Directive has been adopted, the issuance of energy performance certificates has been ensured, and the National Broadband Infrastructure Development Plan 2025-2029, as well as the Digital Services Plan 2025-2027, have been adopted.
The Law on Information Security was also adopted, as well as the Instructions for State Prosecutors' Procedures in Cases of Domestic or Family Violence.
The government plans to close six more chapters by the end of the year.
Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević said on Wednesday, at a consultative hearing before the parliamentary Committee on European Integration, that the plan is to internally close at least six negotiation chapters by the end of this year.
As she explained, these are Chapters 3 - Right to Establish a Company and Freedom to Provide Services, 4 - Free Movement of Capital, 5 - Public Procurement, 6 - Commercial Law, 11 - Agriculture and Rural Development and Chapter 13 - Fisheries.
"We will certainly work on a larger number of chapters to close, because with this dynamics it means that 2026 will be the year in which we will officially close almost 20 negotiation chapters at the Intergovernmental Conferences between the EC and Montenegro," Gorčević stated.
She said that at this moment, three negotiation chapters are internally ready for closure: 31 - Foreign, Security and Defense Policy, 4 - Free Movement of Capital, 5 - Public Procurement.
She recalled that Chapter 31 was internally ready for closure in December, but that, due to communication with Croatia on bilateral issues, that chapter will be closed at one of the next Intergovernmental Conferences.
"For now, we are satisfied with the dynamics of the negotiations with Croatia, which we will inform you about later," said Gorčević.
Croatia blocked the closure of Chapter 31 due to unresolved bilateral issues
When it comes to the remaining chapters, Gorčević said that it is necessary to adopt around 20 laws by June, which are also the final benchmarks, and added that the Government will send everything to parliament in May.
Negotiations between Montenegro and the EU began on June 29, 2012. During that period, Montenegro opened all chapters, 33, and closed six.
Three project proposals in the field of energy will be funded
The Ministry of European Affairs said that of the approved amount of the first tranche, about half will be allocated in the form of budget support, and the other half will be used to finance infrastructure projects and implemented through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) mechanism.
As they said, for this part of the funds, the European Commission positively assessed three project proposals in the field of energy.
The first project is the construction of the 110 kV Herceg Novi - Vilusi transmission line, the reconstruction of the 110/35 kV TS (transformer station) Vilusi and the expansion of the 110/35 kV TS Herceg Novi.
The second project is ''CEDIS (Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System) Smart Digitalization'' - Phase I, and the third is the construction of TS 400/110 kV Brezna - Phase II.
"The total value of these three projects is 79,87 million euros, of which the contribution from the Growth Plan funds is 14,67 million euros," MEP said.
Visa policy not harmonized for 11 countries
Visa policy is not harmonized for 11 countries, according to the First Semi-Annual Report.
"Montenegro is actively working to align its visa policy with EU standards through amendments to the Law on Foreigners and the modernization of the visa information system," the document states.
It is recalled that Vanuatu was removed from the visa-free regime in February this year, "indicating progress towards further harmonization with the EU visa policy."
"However, at this moment, Montenegro's visa policy is not fully aligned with the EU. Currently, citizens of nine countries can enter and stay in Montenegro without a visa throughout the year (Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Qatar, China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for up to 90 days, and Belarus and Russia for up to 30 days), "it is stated.
It is also recalled that on February 13 this year, Montenegro temporarily exempted citizens of Egypt, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from visa requirements "in order to stabilize the tourism sector and stimulate economic development."
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