At the meeting held today, with Minister of European Affairs Mr Aleksandar Andrija Pejović in attendance, members of the Committee on European Integration unanimously supported the Twelfth quarterly report on overall activities within the process of Montenegro’s integration in the European Union, for the period October - December 2016 and considered the Third and Fourth quarterly report on fulfilment of commitments arising from the Montenegro’s Programme of Accession to the European Union for the period 2016-2018, Montenegro’s Programme of Accession to the European Union for the period 2017-2018, as well as 2016 Implementation Report of the Action Plan; and 2017 Action Plan for implementation of the Strategy on Informing the Public on Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union 2014-2018.

During the meeting they discussed the most important activities of Montenegro with regard to fulfilling obligations arising from the accession process, primarily in the normative sense, but also the actual meetings reflecting the dynamics of political dialogue of Montenegro and the EU. Regarding the implementation of the planned Accession Programme, Minister Pejović pointed out that, out of all line ministries, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism had had the most activities in the sense of proposing laws and secondary legislation. In addition to that, he pointed out that, through drafting of action plans for implementation of the Strategy on Informing the Public on Montenegro’s Accession to the European Union, the number of ministries that directly communicated with the citizens on European issues was also rising, thus improving the level of knowledge of citizens on the process of European Integration and the EU in general.

The Committee members were especially interested in the level of usage of IPA funds in the pre-accession period and further challenges in that respect, as well as in development of capacities needed for fulfilment of ambitious action plans from the Accession Programme. In that regard, Mr Pejović reminded of the direct financial allocations from the EU pre-accession assistance at Montenegro’s disposal, and the additional funds for regional projects which it managed to secure through the Berlin Process.

Minister Pejović and the Committee members also considered the possibility of joint marking of Europe Day.