Montenegro opens and temporarily closes Chapter 26 - Education and Culture

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Brussels, Belgium (15 April 2013) -- The meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro at Deputy level was held today in Brussels to open and provisionally close the second negotiating chapter: Chapter 26 - Education and Culture. This chapter covers, inter alia, EU flagship programmes such as Erasmus Mundus, Tempus and Youth in Action and the future Creative Europe, carrying a great deal of meaning for citizens and allowing thousands of Europeans to study and work abroad every year, advancing cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and learning.

Regarding negotiations on Chapter 26 - Education and Culture, the EU considered that, exceptionally, benchmarks for the provisional closure of this chapter were not required, given the good general level of Montenegro's state of preparedness in the area of Education and Culture, and the limited scope and particular nature of acquis obligations in this chapter. The EU, therefore, noted that, at this stage, this chapter does not require further negotiations.

The EU also underlined that it would devote particular attention to monitoring all specific issues mentioned in its common position, with a view to ensuring Montenegro's administrative capacity and its capacity to manage the EU programmes in this field. Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the acquis will continue throughout the negotiations. The EU will, if necessary, return to this chapter at an appropriate moment.

The European Union delegation was led by Ambassador Rory Montgomery, Ireland's Permanent Representative to the EU. The Montenegrin delegation was led by Ambassador Andrija Pejović, State Secretary for European Integration and Chief Negotiator for Negotiations on Accession of Montenegro to the European Union.

A further Accession Conference at Ministerial level is planned for June in order to take the process forward.