MEP: Great progress of Montenegro in the field of innovation, human resources, information society and social policy

Montenegro has made great progress in several negotiation areas, including innovation, human resources, information society and social policies, it was assessed at the meeting of the Subcommittee on Innovation, Human Resources, Information Society and Social Policy held in Podgorica.

As announced by the Ministry of European Affairs (MEP), representatives of Montenegrin institutions presented to their colleagues from the European Commission (EC) activities in areas covered by Chapters 2 - Free Movement of Workers, 10 - Information Society and Media, 19 - Social Policy and Employment, 25 Science and Research and 26 - Education and Culture.

The meeting highlighted that the provisional closure of Chapters 2 and 28 at the Intergovernmental Conference in Luxembourg is confirmation that good results are being valued.

The Head of the Subcommittee, Anita Bilafer Mihaljević, pointed out the importance of the temporary closure of Chapter 2 – Freedom of Movement of Workers and congratulated all colleagues whose dedication and hard work made this possible.

She said that, since the last session of the Subcommittee, Montenegro has translated the Operational Conclusions into concrete results in all areas on today's agenda: education, human resources, youth and culture; social policy and employment; freedom of movement of workers; information society and media; and research and innovation.

"We have adopted key laws, strategies and action plans, strengthened our institutions and deepened alignment with the acquis communautaire of the European Union (EU)," said Bilafer Mihaljević.

She thanked the EU for its financial, technical and expert support through IPA, TAIEX and SOCIEUX+, as well as the European Training Foundation for its continued assistance and expertise in the areas covered by this Subcommittee.

Bilafer Mihaljević said that Montenegro remains fully committed to achieving its roadmap for EU accession.

“But our reforms have never been driven solely by meeting the final benchmarks. They have been driven by our responsibility to the citizens of Montenegro, who should benefit from every law adopted, every institution strengthened, and every step taken towards EU membership,” said Bilafer Mihaljević.

Today's Subcommittee, she added, is a valuable platform for maintaining that momentum and moving closer to full European integration.

Opening the meeting of the Subcommittee from the European side, Deputy Head of the Unit for Montenegro in the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Policy, Heinke Fejt, congratulated Montenegro on the significant progress made on its path towards EU membership.

She also congratulated on the provisional closure of negotiation chapters 2 and 28, which, she pointed out, represents another success and increases the total number of provisionally closed negotiation chapters to 16.

"This way, Montenegro maintains its position as the most advanced country in the process of joining the European Union," said Fejt.

She said that the main objective of the meeting is the preparation and further progress needed for the provisional closure of Chapter 19 - Social Policy and Employment.

"We will consider a range of issues that have a direct impact on the daily lives of Montenegrin citizens and their ability to shape their future - from childcare, education and the pension system, to taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the labor market through labor mobility," said Fejt.

According to her, the topic of the meeting will be preserving competitiveness through research and development, digitalization, as well as strengthening resilience to cyber threats, which is of utmost importance in today's circumstances.

"We will also pay special attention to the media, which must be independent, easily accessible and of high quality in order to enable citizens to make informed decisions in all areas of life," said Fejt.

She emphasized that Montenegro remains the most advanced candidate country in the enlargement process, but that the country still has significant work ahead of it to achieve the goal of temporarily closing the remaining negotiation chapters by the end of the year.