
European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said Wednesday at the Committee on Foreign Affairs that Montenegro will not close any negotiation chapters before it implements the reforms from chapters 23 and 24.
Negotiating Chapter 23 covers the areas of judiciary and fundamental rights, while Chapter 24 relates to justice, freedom and security.
Varhelyi said that, although Montenegro’s progress on European Union (EU) accession reforms has stalled, the newly-appointed government is expected to focus on EU-related reforms.
We expect the new government to focus on reforms and ensure that the country’s democratic institutions and judiciary become once more fully functional, he said.
Meeting the interim benchmarks set in the rule of law Chapters 23 and 24 will be key to achieve further progress in the negotiations overall. No further chapters will be provisionally closed before this milestone is reached, said Vahrelyi.
European Parliament Rapporteur for Montenegro Tonino Picula said he regrets that Montenegro has not made much progress, noting that the judiciary is in a serious crisis with weak leadership and poor management.
“And now we also see people who are openly against EU practices and policies,” he said.
Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic said the European Commission (EC) progress report is a good overview of the situation in Montenegro and that he does not think Montenegro scored poorly, but that the report places insufficient focus on some major things that have happened.
He said much has been done to reform the judiciary by removing certain people who were, according to many reports, bad for the judiciary.
Milatovic said he will not be laying blame on the previous Government or parliamentary majority. “I don’t think this should be done. It’s what the previous Government did…and got nothing out of it,” said Milatovic.