Bilcik: EU looking for way to help Montenegro repay debt to China

NEWS 30.04.202117:47
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Vladimir Bilcik MEP, chair of the Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee, said on Friday that the European Union is looking for ways to help Montenegro repay a loan to a Chinese state-controlled bank.

He said that the EU is not a bank and can’t repay a foreign debt but was looking at ways to help repay the loan in order to reinforce the country’s financial stability. The previous Montenegrin government took a loan from the Chinese Ex-Im bank to finance the construction of a highway which it is having serious difficulties repaying amid fears that China could take over one of the country’s ports to settle the debt.

Bilcik warned of the danger of China trying to take or Montenegro’s property or territory and raise the political stakes, adding that ways have to found to prevent that. “The EU stands with Montenegro and we have to find a response in line with the country’s European path and its institutional frameworks to reinforce the responsibility of all politicians in Montenegro,” he said.