Subcommittee for Agriculture and Fisheries assesses remarkable progress of Montenegro in EU integration

Speaking of European integration, Montenegro achieved remarkable progress in agriculture over the past few years. Below are more intensive phases of further harmonisation with the EU policies and implementation of adopted legislation, which will significantly contribute to raising the competitiveness of Montenegrin agricultural producers. This is the assessment of the 9^th meeting of the Subcommittee for agriculture and fisheries, which started today in Podgorica.

The meeting was opened by Deputy Prime Minister PhD Petar Ivanović and Deputy Head of Montenegro Unit of the Directorate General for Enlargement of the EC, Thomas Hagleitner. Representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development presented the progress made since the previous meeting, held in Brussels in November 2015, in the areas of agriculture and rural development, food safety, veterinary, phytosanitary policy and fisheries.

DPM Ivanović reminded that the previous year was the year of the adoption of legislation, making strategies and meeting the benchmarks for chapters 11, 12 and 13, and the crown of the successful work was the opening of negotiation chapters 12 and 13, related to food safety and fisheries. “We continue with the activities in accordance with action plans for these chapters, and we expect the imminent opening of the chapter 11 (Agriculture and Rural Development),” DPM Ivanović said.

Within activities on further harmonisation with the EU regulations in the field of agriculture, DPM Ivanović reminded that Law on wine, Law on the spirits and Amendments to the Law on olive growing were adopted. Also, the Law on the quality systems of agricultural and food products is planned to be adopted by the end of the year. Within the Agro budget, direct payments for perennial plants are established for the first time, which is directly related to the Action Plan for Chapter 11.

The DPM singled out results achieved in the accreditation process of the Payment Agency, followed by the Directorate for Food Safety establishing, which created a more efficient  system of food safety.

According to the Ivanović’s opinion, the meeting of the Subcommittee is the opportunity to perform talks with the representatives of the European Commission about everything that is important for the agricultural producers, for the dynamics of Montenegrin agriculture harmonisation with the EU standards, for the dynamics of the new laws adoption and most importantly, for the implementation of these regulations.

Deputy Head of Montenegro Unit of the Directorate General for Enlargement of the EC, Thomas Hagleitner said in his opening speech that Montenegro has made good progress, especially because the previous obligations of accession in agriculture were not easy at all. He expressed satisfaction about good cooperation with Montenegrin representatives and about the continuation of joint activities. Mr Hagleitner stressed the importance of harmonising the regulations in agriculture; because the preparation for the adoption and implementation of EU standards and rules of marketing on the EU market are behind it, which ultimately has tangible benefits for farmers and citizens in Montenegro.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO