Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic meets head of the European Commission Delegation Geoffrey Barrett during his farewell visit to Montenegro

Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic met today with Head of the European Commission Delegation to Belgrade, Ambassador Geoffrey Barrett, who is paying his farewell visits to Montenegro.

Prime Minister Djukanovic thanked Ambassador Barrett for his cooperation and engagement in the development of European processes in Montenegro and Serbia.

The two officials agreed that European Partnership, as the guidepost to reform steps, represented an important mechanism that would accelerate the europeanization of the countries of the region on their way to EU integration. By the same token, Ambassador Barrett reiterated the familiar requirements for a positive outcome of the Feasibility Study for Serbia-Montenegro. Those, first of all, include full cooperation with the Hague War Crime Tribunal, but also the harmonization of economic systems of Serbia and Montenegro and functionality of the State Unions institutions.

Prime Minister Djukanovic pointed out that the Government of Montenegro was fully dedicated to further development of the Action Plan for the Implementation of European Partnership Recommendations. Commenting on the reasons that brought to a standstill in the State Unions advance to the European Union, he emphasized that separate arrangements would accelerate European integration of both Serbia and Montenegro. In that context, he expressed the readiness of Montenegro to pass through certain stages of European integration together with Serbia and added that, regardless of the existing hindrance in the EU accession process, the most difficult section of the European road was behind us.

The Prime Minister and Ambassador Barrett emphasized the importance of creating a wide European coalition and resolving the existing standstill, observing that Montenegro and Serbia had their future in the EU.

Paying recognition to the Prime Ministers commitment to the europeanization of Montenegro and the region, Ambassador Barrett said he was convinced that the Government of Montenegro would continue providing constructive contribution to that end.