President of Montenegro: “Europe Now 2” will be realized

The “Europe Now 2” program will be implemented as announced in the pre-election campaign, said the President of Montenegro…

…Jakov Milatović, in an interview with TV Montenegro. Milatović assessed that there is a clearly defined path that leads to that goal, which consists of five steps that he presented earlier.

Jakov Milatović: “Europe Now 2” will be realized as announced

However, Milatović points out that all this will depend on the existence of political will and knowledge of decision-makers.

“I am an optimist and I think that all these steps that I mentioned are very realistic. I think that some of them have already been taken or are being taken. It is for this reason that I welcomed the focus of the budget on the construction of the second section of the highway. only a question of the following, the existence of political will, the existence of political capacity to present these reform initiatives, and the existence of knowledge on the part of the decision-makers to do all these steps in a good way so that the country reaches its goal”, said Milatović.

Milatović said that a lot of time was lost in the process of EU integration and that citizens and the economy suffer because Montenegro is not part of the Union. He recalled the statements that Montenegro could finish the negotiations by 2026 and that the membership could happen by 2028.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as he said, herself said that Montenegro can be a success story.

“We have an even greater responsibility to speed up the European path and to do what is up to us by 2026. Some important steps on that path have already been taken, you know that the seventh judge of the Constitutional Court was elected, we received the Judicial Council after more years in full composition, we got the supreme state prosecutor and all this was well received in Brussels. We need to complete our obligations to become a full member in 2028. It is an ambitious act, but we should strive for it as a society,” said the head of the Montenegrin States.

He advocated the continuation of judicial reforms and the continuation of the fight against crime and corruption. He says that in the past, selective justice is what most oppressed our citizens. Milatović believes that we need a greater distribution of justice.

“We need honorable people, people of integrity who will fight for justice in Montenegro. This was not the case in the previous period, because we had people who kept our judiciary in an unjust status,” Milatović said.

According to him, a lot has been done in terms of judicial reform.

“Since the formation of a new government and the election of a new convocation of parliament, appointments have taken place, it will be rounded off with the election of a new supreme prosecutor and president of the Supreme Court, and I expect the rule of law to strengthen in Montenegro,” says Milatović.

He believes that there is no time to waste and that the geopolitical situation is such that Brussels also needs a success story from the region.

He recalled that he had spoken with the President of France Emmanuel Macron four times and that at the first meeting, the French leader was quite skeptical about the fast membership of Montenegro, but that started to change over time.

“Dialogue is very important, and in all the conversations with the most prominent EU officials, and the heads of state and government of the leading EU members, I succeeded in presenting all these good things that happened in Montenegro and positioned Montenegro as a success story,” Milatović explained.

(Antena M)