Montenegro is one step closer to opening Chapter 27

The European Commission (EC) has accepted Montenegro‘s final negotiating position’s draft for Chapter 27 and said that EC representatives have already been working on their negotiating document. A few days ago, Montenegro also engaged a consultant on this chapter.

Montenegro submitted its Draft on January 22^nd. The Montenegrin Negotiating team representatives subsequently had a video conference with the European Commission’s representatives from the Directorate-general for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Directorate-general for the Environment and Directorate-general for Climate CHange, said Saša Radulović, State Secretary of the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (MSDT) of Montenegro.

During the Montenegrin Parliament’s public forum Montenegro and EU, Chapter 27: Environment and climate change, Radulovic said that the Draft was “generally praised” by the European Commission.

The Government of Montenegro adopted the negotiating position for CHapter 27, which is now going to be sent to the Bulgarian presidency. According to Montenegrin minister for European Affairs, Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, everything is now on the European Commission, who is to hand over its negotiating position.

Pejović also expressed his hopes that Montenegro will open this chapter by the end of June, according to public service broadcaster of Montenegro RTCG.

In July 2016, the European Commission confirmed that Montenegro met the criteria set for the opening of Chapter 27. More than a year ago, the EU Council of Ministers informed Montenegro that all member states unanimously concluded that Montenegro was ready to start negotiations on Chapter 27. That was practically an invitation to Montenegro to deliver the negotiating position.

“What is most important is that Montenegro is ready to open negotiations with the EC and, according to priorities, continue to gradually solve problems and open issues in this area,” said Ivana Vojinović, head of the Montenegrin negotiating group. 

A few days ago, Montenegro hired a European expert in the field of water management and protection, Helmut Bloch, as a consultant for Chapter 27.