European Parliament adopts resolution on Montenegro's progress

Strasbourg, France (18 April 2013) – At its plenary session in Strasbourg from 15-18 April, the European Parliament adopted the resolution on Montenegro’s progress in which it recognises considerable improvements the country made in the EU accession process and its leading role in the region in that regard. The opening of the negotiation talks and the opening and closing of two negotiation chapters send a positive signal to other EU aspiring countries of the region. The adopted resolution is also an important message to the Montenegrin administration to continue the negotiation process and the implementation of the reforms at the forthcoming important stages of its European journey, Ambassador Ivan Leković, Head of Montenegro's Mission to the EU, stressed.

The Resolution acknowledges Montenegro’s progress in the key areas and encourages the Government to conduct consistent measures related to anti-corruption and conflict of interests.

The European Parliament also welcomes the civil society's involvement in the preparation of the accession talks with the aim of ensuring more transparency of the integration process and the fact that NGOs are equal partners within the negotiation working groups. It also praises the Government’s efforts made towards strengthening participatory democracy.

The Resolution recommends further strengthening of the parliament’s oversight role through the adopted Law on Parliamentary Investigation, and it underlined the need for reinforcing capacities for adopting legislation on the civil society's involvement and the Parliament’s more active role in battling corruption and organised crime.

The Montenegrin Parliament is encouraged to adopt constitutional reforms related to judiciary as soon as possible. The resolution praises the measures related to advancing efficiency of the judiciary, including reducing the backlog, the Head of Mission of Montenegro to the EU emphasised. 

The Resolution praises Montenegro’s structural reforms and the preservation of its macroeconomic and fiscal stability, despite the economic crisis. It encourages their further implementation as well as conducting measures related to cutting public consumption and increasing the labour market’s flexibility.

The European Parliament called on Montenegro’s authorities to maintain balance between economic growth and environmental protection, Ambassador Leković concluded.