Government of Montenegro establishes two more negotiation frameworks

Podgorica, Montenegro (7 April 2017) – The Government of Montenegro is working intensively on fulfilling the European agenda; the negotiating frameworks for two more negotiation chapters have been established, which are expected to be opened by the end of the year.

The College for Negotiations on Montenegro's Accession to the EU, at today's session, considered the negotiating framework for Chapter 17 Economic and Monetary Union and 27 Environment and Climate Change. The College concluded that on 1 April 2017 Montenegro fulfilled all the conditions for the opening of the penultimate chapter Economic and Monetary Union. The meeting also highlighted the special importance of environmental protection, and rated that addressing the challenges in this area must be among the key priorities of the Government.

Prime Minister Duško Marković emphasised that the whole administration must be strongly focused on achieving results that will give additional dynamics to integration by opening the remaining chapters, but also mark the beginning of a new phase – closing negotiation chapters. He pointed out that the challenges should be addressed quickly and efficiently, and it is important to further strengthen the position of the institutions in the system.

It remains that Montenegro meets the conditions for opening only one chapter, and in this context, the College members discussed the activities to fulfill the initial benchmark in Chapter 8 - Competition. The Government will take further action in order to finalise the legal framework for the allocation of state aid in accordance with European standards.

In addition, they also presented activities to fulfill the final benchmark in following chapters: 6 Company law, 7 Intellectual property, 10 Information society and media, 20 Industrial Policy and 21 Trans-European Networks. Given that these chapters are the most advanced in the negotiation process, the College members reviewed all necessary steps in order to create conditions as soon as possible to accelerate the negotiation process and complete the work on the chapters in the immediate period.

Alongside the College members and deputy prime ministers Milutin Simović, Rafet Husović and Zoran Pažin, and Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, the session was also attended by Minister of Economy Dragica Sekulić, Minister of Finance Darko Radunović, Minister of Sustainable Development and Tourism Pavle Radulović and Director General of the Directorate of Public Roads at the Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs Angelina Živković.

OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER