Montenegro's ambition to become a member of the European Union (EU) by 2028 remains a realistic goal, the country's chief negotiator with the EU, Predrag Zenović, announced today.
He said this at a press conference in Podgorica, on the occasion of the presentation of the Non-Paper on the situation in Chapters 23 and 24 in Montenegro.
"In addition to the progress report, there is of course a Non-paper - an informal working document that is a form of cross-section and targeted the area of the rule of law. The key step forward were the IBAR laws and we are now in the implementation phase. Today, we recognize the interim benchmarks as final - primarily in the judiciary. This report brought a good analysis, indicating that, after the steps forward, concrete reforms and implementation are now in order. This document has shown that reform activity is the task of the Government of Montenegro," Zenović emphasized.
Jelena Grdinić, head of negotiating chapter 23, said that we must believe that it is possible to close this chapter.
"When it comes to the area of the judiciary, what is positive is that laws that are aligned with international standards have begun to yield results. The work of the Judicial Training Center has been praised. What has proven to be challenging is the level of judicial reform. What has captured the public's attention are the amendments to the Constitution - the participation of the minister in the Judicial Council. The government adopted the proposal and submitted it to the parliamentary procedure. It is important to emphasize that we have started and initiated the process," Grdinić emphasized.
She added that one of the controversial issues was the retirement of a Constitutional Court judge at the end of December last year.
"We, as the Government, have said that we have no objections to the opinion of the Venice Commission and that we will form a working group. Of course, this is a serious job that will require certain analyses so that everything is in accordance with the Constitution, domestic legislation, but also European standards. The Ministry of Justice has, as an interim solution, proposed increasing the salaries of judges and prosecutors until the law is passed," said Grdinić.
She said that when it comes to the judiciary, work is being done in every segment.
"Most things are in the finalization phase. Regarding fundamental rights, communication with the European Court of Human Rights has improved. Protection of the LGBTQ population has continued to strengthen. The Roma population still suffers from a degree of discrimination and this needs to be worked on. A Romani language interpreter was finally appointed in November last year. A set of media laws was also adopted last year and they have slowly begun to be implemented, but the appointment of members of the RTCG Council and the AMU Council is still pending. This is in the parliamentary procedure," said Grdinić.
She also mentioned the deinstitutionalization strategy.
"This is another challenge that awaits us," said Grdinić.
Head of Chapter 24 Jovana Mijović said that as far as that chapter is concerned, the legislation has not been recognized.
"We continue to align the acquis with the EU acquis. This is, above all, the fight against organized crime. This determination of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) is recognized in all discussions. What is recognized in the non-paper is this intention. They recognize that we have given the Special Police Department (SPO) an independent status," said Mijović.
She said that everyone knew from the media what importance the Sky application had for Montenegro.
"One of the criticisms concerns parallel financial investigations. Montenegro is a legal, not a police state. It is seen that financial investigations are conducted in parallel with prosecutorial ones. Montenegro has adopted a national strategy for the fight against drugs. We all know that the Montenegrin police lack at least 1.500 officers. In addition, we have fantastic results in the fight against corruption, but also all other forms of crime," said Mijović.
She said that the system of employment of police officers is exempt from the Law on Civil Servants and Employees.
"We cannot equate a police officer with civil servants and employees, because a police officer has the possibility of depriving them of their liberty. It is an extremely rigorous procedure - definitely more complex than the one prescribed by the Law on Civil Servants and Employees. For the first time, we are also checking the integrity of future police officers so that we do not end up in a situation where we deprive future directors of the Police Department, police officers, etc. of their liberty again," said Mijović.
As she pointed out, Montenegro has always been a refuge for those fleeing war-torn areas, but also that last year Montenegro broke up a migrant smuggling network.
"The Border Police sector is the most staffed sector in the police. Border crossings must not be left without supervision. The EU recognizes our commitment when it comes to legal migration. There is, first of all, a large number of Ukrainian migrants. We have changed the law to provide them with refuge. We have communicated with the EU to provide them with data at the end of the tourist season on how much the state has earned from tourists from the countries that are in dispute. We will try to harmonize it with the EU visa policy as much as possible," said Mijović.
Mijović, answering a journalist's question about the situation in the police, said that they were greeted by a catastrophic situation in the police.
"We are aware of the difficult situation in terms of material resources, but no matter how hard we try to renew material resources, we encounter obstacles within state procedures. We must find a solution for the renovation of all police stations," she said.
She added that the work is being done to increase the salaries of police officers. She pointed out that the salaries are higher than they were, but they will not stop there.
"A police officer is a police officer 24 hours a day. That's why we can't equate him with other officers... For these reasons, so that we as a society are not ashamed, so that officials are not arrested again, if you know that an officer is involved in some form of corruption, report it," she stressed.
SDT spokesperson Vukas Radonjić, when asked about the case against RTCG director Boris Raonić and members of the RTCG Council, said that the case was submitted to the SDT, but that in the meantime the law had changed, so the case was returned to the ODT.
He explained that under the new law, the SDT only deals with high-ranking state officials.
When asked by a journalist from Television Vijesti what happened to the 19 percent of recommendations in the non-paper that had not even been started, Grdinić replied that some were scheduled to start this year.
"We are working on every activity, but we have not been able to reach the point where we can say that they have been partially implemented," she said.
She cited as an example the Law on Administrative Disputes, which was listed as not being implemented, but has since been adopted.
When asked by a journalist why they are not moving proactively towards the EU, with a working paper on what is important, but instead asking for everyone's opinion, Grdinić replied that perhaps they express themselves clumsily sometimes, which is why that impression is given.
"What we do is we draft the law and it goes to public debate. It is aligned with European practice...", she said. "When we send the text, it contains our view of the law and how it will affect us," she said.
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