17th meeting of the EU-Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee

The 17^th meeting of the EU and Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) will be held in Brussels on 7 December 2023.

The President of the European Economic and Social Committee Oliver Ropke, Vice-president of the European Economic and Social Committee Aurel Laurenţiu Plosceanu and Minister of European Affairs of Montenegro Maida Gorčević will open the meeting.

In the opening part, the Co-Chairs of JCC, Decebal- Stefanita Padure and Gordana Đurović, will address the attendees.

The JCC members will discuss the current state of play in EU-Montenegro relations, focusing on the EC Report on Montenegro for 2023 and overview of the developments within the Berlin process, which will be presented by Cindy van den Boogert, Deputy Head of Unit for Montenegro within the Directorate General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations EC, and Head of Mission of Montenegro to the European Union, Ambassador Petar Marković.

The representatives of civil sector in Montenegro: Pavle D. Radovanović (CEM), Marina Vujačić (AYDM), Suzana Radulović (MEF), Tatjana Džudović (CTUM) and Marko Sošić (Institute Alternativa) will speak and present their perception of the following two topics concerning the state of play of obligations within Cluster 1: the Fundamentals of the Accession Process, with a specific focus on Public Administration Reform, and Overview of the civil society situation in Montenegro, including social dialogue.

Maja Handjiska Trendfailova (ReSPA), Kristian Pirvulescu (EESC rapporteur), Tatiana Romon and Ana Mariguesa (Delegation of the EU to Montenegro) will also address the above stated topics.

A joint declaration will be adopted at the meeting and will be distributed to the Stabilization and Association Committee, Stabilization and Association Parliamentary Committee, European External Action Service, European Commission and the Government of Montenegro.