Head of the permanent delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to the Parliamentary Dimension of the Central European Initiative, Mr Miodrag Vuković, participated in the Meeting of the General Committee on Political and Home Affairs of the CEI-PD, which was held in Sofia.
The topic of this year's meeting, organised by the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, was "CEI contribution to the European integrational processes in the region of the Western Balkans – synergy and perspectives".
The meeting was opened by Mr Yavor Notev, Vice-President of the National Assembly of Bulgaria, and the participants were addressed by the following as well: Ms Dzhema Grozdanova, Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Policy, Mr Marco Maggioni, President of the CEI PD, Mr Nikolay Aleksandrov, Head of the Bulgarian CEI PD Delegation, and Mr Antal Nikoletti, CEI Deputy Secretary General.
In their presentations, representatives of the host parliament stressed that Bulgaria, with its participation in the Central European Initiative, aims to strengthen stability and security, and establish European standards in relations between the countries of the Western Balkans region. Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Policy, Ms Dzhema Grozdanova, stressed the progress of Montenegro as stable and convincing, and assessed that the grouping of candidate countries on their way to meet EU membership could lead to a slowdown in Montenegro's accession, as a country leader of the process.
Head of the Montenegrin delegation, Mr Miodrag Vuković, addressed the participants of the meeting, and presented what has been achieved in the field of European integration of Montenegro. Mr Vuković expressed satisfaction with the fact that the enlargement policy was identified as one of the priorities during the new, 18-month programme of EU Troika, consisting of Finland, beside two other CEI countries - Romania and Croatia. Mr Vuković expressed his belief that during Romanian Presidency, Montenegro would open the remaining Chapter 8 - Competition policy, and successfully continue with process of closing negotiation chapters.
At the end of the Meeting of the General Committee, the participants unanimously adopted the conclusions, emphasising, among other things, that in the future, European integration of the Western Balkan countries would be a priority of the Central European Initiative. Furthermore, the need to strengthen the visibility of the CEI parliamentary dimension was expressed, which would be achieved by sending clear and timely messages to the institutions of EU on issues of strategic importance for Europe.
