Brussels, 17/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 16 December, Montenegro opened four new negotiation chapters - on financial and budgetary arrangements (Chapter 33), on customs union (Chapter 29), on consumer protection and health (Chapter 28) and on statistics (Chapter 18). There are now 16 of the 35 pre-accession chapters open, in other words “almost half of the negotiation chapters”, said Montenegro's minister for foreign affairs and European integration, Igor Luksic. Two chapters have been provisionally closed. Recalling that the negotiations were opened in June 2012, Italy's secretary of state for European affairs Sandro Gozi considered that “in two years, very good progress has been made”.
“Further accession conferences will be planned, as appropriate, in order to take the process forward in the first half of 2015”, stated the Accession Conference with Montenegro at Ministerial Level in a press release. “The administration is ready to open new chapters, we hope next year”, said Luksic.
Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn stated that “2015 should be the year where we see tangible results in the area of the rule of law”. He reiterated the importance of implementing the measures adopted. (CG)