Brussels, 12/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission proposed on Wednesday 12 October that accession negotiations be opened with Montenegro. “Montenegro has made good progress, in particular in addressing the identified key priorities, achieving overall satisfactory results” the Commission says, “and is now ready to open accession negotiations”. European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle warned, however, that this was just the start of a difficult journey.
Montenegro will be the first country to benefit from a new approach on legal rules and public administration reform. Thus, the Commission recommends that Chapters 23 and 24, which deal with fundamental rights, legal rules and judicial reform, be opened at the start of the accession procedure and be among the last to be closed. The aim of the new approach is to bring negotiations with permanent interaction with the Commission, the member states and the candidate countries, said Füle. He said that this would mean new laws could be adopted, giving definite results.
The report on Montenegro underlines that the legislative and institutional framework has been considerably improved. However, policy and legislation implementation “remains a challenge”. Steps have been taken to improve implementation of anti-discrimination policies, including for displaced persons, and on tackling corruption and organised crime, but the country must continue its efforts. Progress towards establishing a functioning market economy was also noted but structural problems in the Montenegrin economy persist. The country must also continue to implement the stabilisation and association agreement. (CG/transl.rt)