At today’s 32nd Meeting, members of the Committee on European Integration have considered, in the presence of Chief Negotiator Mr Aleksandar Drljević, the Information paper on 2018 EU support programmes to Montenegro.

The key aspects of the Information paper were presented by Ms Ivana Glišević-Đurović, Deputy Chief Negotiator – National IPA Coordinator. She spoke about results regarding the use of funds from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) within financial perspectives for the period 2007-2013 (IPA I) and 2014-2020 (IPA II). Ms Glišević-Đurović said that the 104 projects are being conducted in the moment, and that in terms of contracted funds, Montenegro has achieved the best performance in the region within the framework of bilateral programs it manages.  

Chairperson of the Committee on European Integration Mr Slaven Radunović informed the guests about activities of the Committee aimed at more intensive oversight of the negotiation process, planned to start in Autumn, and in that regard, he asked the representatives of the European Integration Office to submit a database of projects in order to prepare the members of the Committee for their visits to local governments.  

During the discussion that followed, members of the Committee talked about the need for having more precise information on spending the funds, stages of implementation of certain projects, degree of usage, but also on strategic planning of trainings for staff in local self-governments and usage of revolving fund allocated to them by the Government of Montenegro, with the aim of more efficient usage of available funds. Members of the Committee were also interested in the manner and stage of preparing for IPA 3 (2021-2027), status of the Natura 2020 project and responsibility for implementing projects, overview of spent funds for the projects of optimisation of the public administration and infrastructural projects.

Ms Glišević-Đurović said that it was possible to speak about the IPA I perspective in terms of spent funds, but it terms of financial perspective 2014-2020, in this stage, it was possible to present only contracted funds.  As for education, the National Coordinator has announced workshops for Autumn, intended for representatives of local self-governments.

Members of the Committee also spoke about planned future activities, and learned about key conclusions for meetings of the Committee Chairpersons organised during the yesterday’s COSAC.