Brussels, 21/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 21 December, Montenegro opened two new accession negotiation chapters with the European Union.
These are Chapter 14 on transport and Chapter 15 on energy, which focus generally on improving economic competitiveness (especially encouraging diversification in the energy and transport markets) and on integration to European networks.
More specifically, the objective of Chapter 14 is to bring Montenegro's national rules into line with European standards. According to the EU, this should lead to better quality transport services, safer transport, better infrastructure and better protection of passenger rights. For Chapter 15, Montenegro will have to reach the EU's objectives in terms of energy security, sustainability and competitiveness.
With these two new chapters, Podgorica has now opened 22 chapters in total (out of 35) and has provisionally closed two since the launch of its EU accession negotiations in June 2012. “The country is currently the most advanced in the negotiations with the EU and an example for the whole region”, said Luxembourg's foreign minister Jean Asselborn.
Questioned by EUROPE about a possible date for accession, Montenegro's foreign minister Igor Luksic stated that it was very difficult to estimate when this will happen. He added, very cautiously, that “in order to stay motivated” his country “was keeping in mind that accession could potentially take place in 2017”. Luksic said he hoped that in a year to a year and a half's time his country would have met the conditions for opening all the chapters. He also said that there was still much work to be done in order to achieve this.
Asselborn encouraged the Montenegrin government to “take the crucial decisions so that the system relating to the rule of law might lead to concrete results”. He called for the resumption of dialogue in the Montenegrin parliament, as the opposition has been boycotting the parliament since September and is calling for new elections to be held. “We call on all the political parties to show responsibility and to resume a constructive dialogue within the parliament. In a parliamentary democracy, differences must be settled in the parliament”, Asselborn stated. He said he hoped the parties would show the “maturity” needed, and also said that, as part of the parliamentary elections which are due to take place in 2016, it was “essential to complete implementation of the new electoral law”. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)