PM Marković participates in panel discussion “Region after the four years of the Berlin Process”

Budva, Montenegro (2 November 2017) -- Speaking at the panel discussion on the topic “Region after the four years of the Berlin Process” held within the conference “Challenges on the path to the European Union”, Prime Minister of Montenegro Duško Marković said that the responsibility of the Western Balkan states on their path towards the European Union must not and can not lie in Brussels, but among the countries and leaders of the Western Balkan region.  

“In the region of the Western Balkans, we had a conflict of two fundamental values – the values of integration, communion and prosperity, and the values that the Balkans dragged to the beginning and the very periphery of the EU for years. We managed to overcome this other system of values, which is still present in our political, security and every other market. And it is not easy for us. We can avoid this conflict if we take responsibility in the region for the process. The responsibility for this process must not and can not lie in Brussels. The responsibility for this process is up to us, the countries and leaders of the Western Balkan states,” the Prime Minister of Montenegro said.

Prime Minister Marković noted that despite all the difficulties, a significant step forward was made in the Western Balkans in the past few years when it comes to the orientation of the countries of the region towards the EU, or towards the achievement of European values.

Recalling that this is already the seventh meeting of the prime ministers of the region this year, Prime Minister Marković highlighted that this is precisely a new moment of commitment and communion that gives strength and greater prospects for success on the road to the EU.

“If we stick to this principle, then Europe will not be so skeptical of us. If we do not come to Brussels with problems, but with solutions, then our perspective is quite certain,” Prime Minister Marković said, assessing that the platform of the Berlin Process through economic regional integration has already yielded results.

“We register that our economies grow, our competitiveness grows, and the region improves its position... Now we are determined to apply our commitments. We do not need action plans for this, we can do it ourselves. Now, the question of all the questions is whether we will transfer all this into a new real value,” the Prime Minister noted.

In a press statement after the panel discussion, the Prime Minister stressed that the region expects strong EU support in projects that are crucial for the development of the Western Balkans.  

“The speed at which we come to the money for projects is very important. The development of the infrastructure of all the countries of the Western Balkans is crucial. In London, we will seek to support us in establishing international institutes for sustainable technologies. It is an opportunity for young people, to use their brains in our region, and not to wander around the planet. We will ask for that at the London Summit,” Prime Minister Marković said, adding that the key challenge that can jeopardise the stability of the region is terrorism that now does not strike the state potential but citizens.

PUBLIC RELATION SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO