''I am more optimistic than ever about receiving NATO invitation in December,'' PM Đukanović says

Podgorica, Montenegro (10 July 2015) – Prime Minister of Montenegro Milo Đukanović made Thursday evening a guest appearance on the Montenegrin public broadcaster RTCG.

Asked whether Montenegro fulfilled all the requirements from its NATO agenda, the Prime Minister said that the pace of the country's reform seems to be excellent.

"I cannot say that we have fulfilled all the requirements, as even, when we receive the invitation, all the criteria are not going to be met. One of the key reforms is the rule of law and no one has the illusion that the area will be ideal in December. But some serious steps had been taken, which was recognised by NATO partners. The perception of the invitation has been changed, and it largely depends on us. There is work to be done, but I am more optimistic than ever about receiving the invitation," he underlined.

He reiterated that recent public opinion polls show that, for the first time, the majority of the citizens of Montenegro are in favour of the country's accession to NATO.

Commenting on the allegations that during NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999 he had required bombing of some targets in Montenegro, Prime Minister Đukanović noted that some sort of media and political terrorism is a common thing for Montenegro on the eve of a major event.

“Whenever something major is going to happen, political actors of destruction, who luckily for us have never been successful in their intentions, turn up. I think this is about the idiocy of a number of journalists, who thought that NATO opponents will benefit from launching such nonsense ," he underlined.

He said that each day in 1999 he sought the NATO bombing to be stopped, as he considered it was not appropriate to be done in Europe at the end of the 20th century.

"And now someone’s horrible manipulation wants to strike emotions of the families, which is terrible and utterly inappropriate," Prime Minister Đukanović concluded.