Prime Minister Milojko Spajić announced that he is against the idea that certain European Union (EU) members would not have the right to vote upon entry.
On Tuesday, at a panel held at the London premises of the British think-tank organization Chatham House, he said that sovereignty is very important to Montenegrins, and that "if you give that up, you should have some kind of control, or rather a control mechanism."
"I disagree with (Albanian Prime Minister Rama) Edi... We restored our independence after eight decades, where we were part of different Yugoslavias. We are an old state from the 19th century and before that, a 1.000-year-old state. If you don't have that balance, then it doesn't work, that's my opinion," Spajić said.
He said that in that case, Montenegro would become "something like a member of the European Economic Area, which are Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein."
"It's fine that there is that model, but it's a pragmatic exchange where you're not forced to agree with everything the European Union does. You can accept most of it, but you can still have some exceptions and deviations. I think even the UK is trying to do something similar. And then you have to accept that Montenegro is a kind of Switzerland in the Balkans. I don't know if that's what they want," Spajić said.
Before Spajić's response, Rama said that he had long been a supporter of new EU members having a different status.
"That we have no veto, that we have no right to vote until Europe is reformed...", said Rama.
Citing unofficial statements from three European diplomats and an EU official, Politiko reported on Monday that the proposal to change EU membership rules is still in its early stages and would have to be approved by all existing members.
"The idea is that new members will gain full rights only after the Union implements reforms that would make it more difficult for individual states to veto common policies," writes the Brussels portal.
Such a move could reportedly make leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban more inclined to accept, say, Ukraine's accession to the bloc.
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