Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević said today in the Parliament that she is not satisfied with the pace of adoption of amendments to the Constitution, because they will not be adopted by the end of June, which is the deadline, which will leave Montenegro without 4,6 million euros from the European Union (EU) Growth Plan.
Responding to a question from European Union MP Boris Mugoša, Gorčević said that a small administration is doing all the work and that some minor delays are not a consequence of a lack of commitment to reforms, but rather the result of the need to carefully manage priorities at a time when the country is simultaneously implementing the largest number of European obligations in its history, in terms of closing chapters.
"I believe that it would be wrong to interpret every delay in individual steps as failure. It is much more important to look at the overall picture. And the overall picture shows that Montenegro is achieving the best results in the region, drawing the highest percentage of available funds and at the same time making the most significant progress in the EU accession process," she said.
Mugoša asked Gorčević if she was satisfied with the dynamics of the implementation of the Reform Agenda, but not in the sense that she believes the job is done or that there is no room for additional improvement.
He stated that according to certain publicly available information, Montenegro has fulfilled 56 percent of its planned obligations.
Mugoša also said that "it is a brutal untruth that the opposition is blocking constitutional changes, which will leave Montenegro without five million euros."
"To date, we should have withdrawn 135 million euros, based on the obligations we agreed with the European Commission. We withdrew 67 million, but not 68 million, because there is a delay in fulfilling the obligations that the Government agreed with the EC," Mugoša said, adding that the problem is not in the administration but in the majority, namely "trading, bidding, blackmailing coalition partners"...
He said that, when it comes to constitutional amendments, they were supposed to happen by June last year, and the Government proposed them in late February and early March of this year.
"From the end of February, or the beginning of March, until today, the majority has not taken a single step to amend the Constitution. And these amendments involve three votes in this parliament. The parliamentary majority has not moved for three months, because it was bargaining and wanted to bring the opposition to a fait accompli," Mugoša said.
As he added, the second amendment to the Constitution, concerning the Central Bank, was adopted by the Government on March 5th, and entered into procedure on March 19th, when the second vote on the laws in the field of security was held.
"And then the Prime Minister comes to the Parliament and says you (the opposition) are to blame. What are we to blame for? Why have you been keeping this in a drawer for three months and have no idea what the procedure is? Five days ago you found out that three votes are needed, not two," Mugoša said.
Gorčević said that she is satisfied with the dynamics of the implementation of the Reform Agenda, but not in the sense that she believes that the work is finished or that there is no room for additional improvement.
"On the contrary, there is always the possibility to work faster, more efficiently and better. However, it is equally important that the results are viewed objectively, based on facts and in comparison with those undergoing the same process. And the facts show that Montenegro has been confirmed as a regional leader within the Western Balkans Growth Plan," she said.
The European Commission, she added, after assessing the third semi-annual report on the implementation of the Reform Agenda, confirmed the fulfillment of 20 reform steps worth a total of 44,2 million euros.
"Thus, Montenegro achieved the highest percentage of completion of reform steps and the highest level of withdrawal of funds since the beginning of the implementation of the Reform Agenda compared to other beneficiary countries of the Western Balkans Growth Plan. This is not a political assessment of the Government, but an official assessment of the European Commission. Additionally, through pre-financing and three semi-annual tranches, Montenegro has so far been allocated more than 89 million euros of support, of which almost 48 million euros are intended for infrastructure projects, while more than 41 million euros directly supported the state budget," Gorčević announced.
Behind these figures, she added, are not administrative procedures, but concrete results: removing business barriers, improving the work of the cadastre, increasing energy efficiency, digitizing public services, improving social policy, strengthening the integrity system, supporting science and innovation, and continuing reforms in the area of the rule of law.
"Of course, I do not shy away from the fact that not all planned steps have been implemented within the deadlines set by the Reform Agenda. However, it is important to understand the broader context in which the European integration process is taking place. Montenegro is currently in the final phase of negotiations with the EU and is simultaneously implementing several demanding reform processes that often rely on the same administrative capacities and the same departments," said Gorčević.
In certain periods, as she said, it was necessary to prioritize activities arising from the final benchmarks for closing negotiation chapters, so that Montenegro could seize the historic opportunity to accelerate the process of accession to the European Union and achieve the goal of closing negotiations within the planned deadlines.
She said that when the European Commission assesses that Montenegro is the most successful country in the region in implementing the Reform Agenda, when it withdraws the largest percentage of available funds and when we are simultaneously leading the European integration process, then it is clear that we are not talking about a problem of dynamics, but about success that needs to be continued and further improved.
"Because the goal is not to be satisfied because we are better than others. The goal is to be even better than we are today. All the same, there is no reason not to recognize and appreciate the results that already distinguish Montenegro as the most successful European story in the region," concluded Gorčević.
Montenegro will close all negotiation chapters by the end of the year
Gorčević, responding to a question from Ivan Vuković (DPS), said that the dynamics of work and fulfillment of obligations have not been jeopardized, nor has the goal of Montenegro completing all obligations from the negotiation process that are within its jurisdiction by the end of this year been called into question.
"Montenegro will close all negotiation chapters by the end of the year," she said.
Vuković asked Gorčević for a precise dynamic plan for closing the chapter, after the EU-Montenegro intergovernmental conference, although previously announced, was not held by the end of May.
He asked Gorčević if he would resign if the set goal in the European integration process was not met.
Gorčević responded that "functions are temporary" and that everyone's goal is for Montenegro to be the next EU member.
She said that Montenegro's responsibility is to fulfill the obligations arising from the final benchmarks for closing chapters in a timely and quality manner. This is followed by the process of evaluation control by European institutions.
"Therefore, this is a process that implies national responsibility and procedures at the European Union level. When it comes to the chapters planned for the May intergovernmental conference, I would like to emphasize that Montenegro completed its obligations within the stipulated deadlines. The short delay in holding the intergovernmental conference was due to procedures on the part of the member states, and not due to delays or insufficiently efficient work of Montenegrin institutions," she stated.
Referring to the request for a precise plan for closing chapters, she said that decisions on closing individual chapters are made through a procedure in which the European Commission, the European Union member states and the European Council play a key role.
"Therefore, it would be more appropriate to seek precise projections related to the decisions of these institutions at the addresses that are responsible for them," she said.
The EU expects political maturity from all candidate countries
MP Nela Savković Vukčević (DPS) asked Gorčević whether the EU Delegation's initiative to invite the government and the opposition to talk showed that the government's claims about unnecessary opposition in continuing the EU path were politically wrong and harmful to the institutional stability of the state.
Gorčević responded that she sees the EU Delegation's initiative as confirmation of the importance of political dialogue on issues of national interest, and not as confirmation of any thesis that Montenegro's European path is at risk or that the Government's positions were wrong.
"The EU expects political maturity, institutional dialogue and the ability to achieve broad social and political consensus on the most important reform issues from all candidate countries. This is neither new nor specific to Montenegro. On the contrary, it is a standard that applies to every country that wants to become a member of the European Union," she said.
As she added, it is important to make a clear distinction between political dialogue as a value and attempts to relativize or shift responsibility for the dynamics of the European path to someone else.
He believes that today in Montenegro there is no rational reason for slowing down European integration.
"There is no reform goal that would be achieved more slowly because it is in the interest of citizens. There is no European obligation whose postponement would improve the quality of life of our people. Therefore, I believe that the policy of slowing down the process is not in the interest of anyone, neither the government, nor the opposition, nor the institutions, except for those who do not want to see Montenegro as a successful European country," she stressed.
She reminded that Montenegro faces serious tasks that require the active role of the Parliament and broad political support, and the best example of this is the constitutional amendments that should further strengthen the independence of the judiciary and improve the system of institutional guarantees for the rule of law.
"This is not a question of the victory of the government or the opposition. This is a question of what kind of state we want to build and how committed we are to the principles of the rule of law that we all declaratively support," she said.
She said that postponing these decisions does not cause the greatest harm to the Government, but rather that citizens very clearly recognize who is proposing solutions, who is implementing reforms, and who is possibly blocking or delaying processes.
Gorčević said that the opposition is not unified and that additional appointments, positions and additional obligations are being sought through the platform...
"At this moment, blackmailing the European path is not good for any party or for the citizens," she said.
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