Montenegro establishes EU accession negotiation structure

Podgorica, Montenegro (2 February 2012) – At today’s session, the Cabinet reached a decision to set up Montenegro’s EU negotiation team. The negotiation structure will be composed of 6 new bodies: College for Negotiations on Accession of Montenegro to the European Union, State Delegation, Negotiating Team, Working Groups for Preparation of Negotiations on Individual Negotiating Chapters, Office of the Chief Negotiator, and the Secretariat of the Negotiating Team.

The decision regulates the composition of the negotiation bodies and their competences. The members of the bodies will be appointed in the coming months in accordance with the requirements of the negotiation process, Chief Negotiator for EU accession Aleksandar Pejović told the press following the Cabinet meeting earlier today.

Working groups for chapter 23, judiciary and basic rights, and chapter 24, justice, freedom and security, will be the first two to be established, he added.

The decision has been reached in consultations with the European Commission and a wide range of Montenegrin stakeholders including the civil society, Government, Parliament and all parliamentary political parties.

With the aim of conducting the negotiation process properly, a need has been recognised to boost capacities of Montenegro’s mission to Brussels and in that regard the Chief negotiator noted that the Cabinet has requested from the ministries of interior affairs, justice, agriculture and finance to send their representatives to Brussels by April.

Montenegro already has one expert appointed to Brussels, a representative of Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, who has been in Brussels since 1 September 2011.