The 30th Cabinet session – 24 November 2022

The Montenegrin Cabinet, at today's 30th session, chaired by Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, adopted the Draft Law on the granting of state aid in fisheries and aquaculture. Adoption of the Law is necessary in order to harmonize it with the legal acquis of the European Union.

At today's session, the Cabinet made new decisions on the formation of negotiating working groups for ten negotiating chapters: 1. Free movement of goods, 2. Freedom of movement for workers, 5. Public procurement, 6. Company law, 7. Intellectual property, 8. Competition policy, 19. Social policy and employment, 20. Entreprise and industrial policy, 22. Regional policy and coordination of structural instruments and 28. Consumer and health protection.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs Jovana Marović explained that the negotiation structure is gradually being transformed in accordance with the requirements of the New Enlargement Methodology.

She added that the goal is to reduce the number of members of negotiating working groups and achieve better coordination of the entire process, making the negotiating working groups more operational and efficient in their work. Furthermore, she stressed that representatives of 7 NGOs have been included in the working groups for chapters 5, 19, 202, 22 and 28.

The Decision on determining the annual number of permits for temporary residence and work of foreigners for 2023 was adopted. The 2023 quota is set at 21,454 permits.

The Cabinet adopted the Report on the implementation of the Action Plan for the implementation of the Defence Strategy 2019-2022 for 2021.

The Cabinet adopted the Decision on the Energy Balance of Montenegro for 2023.

Full press release in Montenegrin is available here.