PM Marković meets NGO representatives: We need to join forces to achieve goal – membership in EU

"I appeal to restore confidence in working together because that is the way to boost the synergy of all Montenegro’s potentials. That may not be the only way but it is without any doubt the safest and the fastest path to our membership in the EU," the Prime Minister pointed out. 

Referring to the frequency of mutual dialogue, the Prime Minister emphasised that this implies that the integration is a current and inspirational  topic and that neither the Government nor NGOs are completely satisfied with the level of achieved cooperation. Prime Minister Marković stressed that Montenegro is entering a new, more demanding phase of the closure of chapters and that the leadership structure in Brussels will change after the European elections. 

"We believe, of course, that the strategies and the EU position when it comes to the enlargement to the Western Balkans will remain unchanged, but it is a fact that sometimes a lot depends on the personal involvement and dedication of those who will get a chance to put this strategy and these positions into practice," Prime Minister Marković stated, hopeful that there is significant scope for synergy of our potentials regarding this issue. 

  

He remained that Montenegro was the first country negotiating with the EU to significantly include NGOs in the negotiating structure and that the number of the civil society representatives was not reduced during the recent rationalisations of the negotiating structure. 

"With this decision, the Government has actually shown that it is truly open to the all civil society representatives through their direct participation in the negotiating working groups," PM Marković noted, adding that a number of the NGO representatives does not attend the meetings of the working groups, and that less than a half of the total number of NGO representatives regularly respond to the invitation of the heads of working groups. 

The Prime Minister also said that sometimes there is an impression that representatives of the Montenegrin NGOs transparently defend and represent every position of European negotiators, forgetting that they are actually members, figuratively speaking, of the Montenegrin team.

"Therefore, it would be logical that we are one team, and that the EU has its own team! I get the impression that we do not behave always like we are aware of the fact, and I think that we should established an open and uncompromised dialogue within working groups and that on the basis of such dialogue we come to a common platform, which we will then defend together in dialogue with partners from Brussels," the Prime Minister said.

Reiterating unambiguous willingness for cooperation and full understanding of the role and significance of the civil sector, the Prime Minister called on representatives of NGOs to raise objections to the Government and the Prime Minister in the context of cooperation with them.

"I would be happy to hear from you if you recognise all the potentials of civil society and separate them from the parapolitical action of a number of NGOs. It seems illogical that the Government is criticised on every occasion and on every topic and that its results in terms of economic growth, financial stability and reduced unemployment is not acknowledged,"Prime Minister Marković underlined.

He added that it does not seem logical to him that the same NGO circles regularly pledge support to the part of the government personalised by opposition parties: "I am not talking about the overall NGO sector, but it does not seem logical for the non-government sector to be, as a rule, anti-government."

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