The 16th meeting of the Subcommittee for Transport, Environment, Climate Change, Energy and Regional Policy between Montenegro and the European Commission was held, at which the importance of the areas that are the subject of this Subcommittee was pointed out, bearing in mind the significant range of obligations in the negotiation chapters that it includes, as well as their influence on the overall development of Montenegrin society and the improvement of the quality of life of all citizens.
Opening the meeting, the Minister of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism and coordinator of the work of the Ministry of European Affairs in the technical mandate, Ana Novaković Đurović, thanked the EU for supporting the European perspective of Montenegro and fundamental reforms on the way to full alignment with European standards, emphasizing the Government’s full commitment to their implementation and intensification.
– She presented the key results, focusing on the most important legal and strategic documents in the areas that are the subject of the meeting. She said that Montenegro remains committed to this priority goal and expressed her firm belief that, with further support from the EU, we will be in a position to report on even better results at the next meeting of the Subcommittee – the announcement states.
She pointed out that, in the area of traffic, Montenegro has met all the conditions to become a full member of the Paris Memorandum on State Port Control on July 1st of this year. As she said, this fulfilled one of the key recommendations of the European Commission in the area of maritime transport.
– In the field of energy, on April 26th, the day-ahead market was officially launched, which paved the way for the further development of the Montenegrin electricity market and its integration into the European Union market, and made it possible to trade electricity in Montenegro in accordance with the best European practices – she said.
She said that, in the area of waste management, the Government has prepared and submitted to the European Commission for its opinion the Draft Law on Waste Management, as well as that the State Waste Management Plan and the Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment for the State Waste Management Plan 2023-2028 have been prepared. She particularly pointed out the importance of the “Industrial waste management and cleaning” project, which is implemented in cooperation with the World Bank, with the aim of rehabilitating ecological black spots, namely: the former Bijela shipyard, the Maljevac ash and slag disposal site, and the Gradac flotation tailings pond, Pljevlja and the location of KAP -a in Podgorica (waste dump and red mud pool).
When it comes to nature protection, Novaković-Đurović pointed out that the Draft Law on Nature Protection is being prepared, as well as that Montenegro has expanded its territory under protected areas, and now officially has three protected marine areas – the Platamuni Nature Park, the Katič Nature Park and Stari Ulcinj Nature Park.
– This completes the process of establishing the first protected areas in the sea, with the provision of conditions for their adequate protection. In this way, the area of protected areas in Montenegro was increased by almost 5,000 hectares – said Novaković Đurović.
The minister said that Montenegro continued to collect data in order to identify potential Natura 2000 areas and that a number of important steps were taken in the direction of achieving effective protection of the Ulcinj salt pan.
Head of Unit D2 for Montenegro and Serbia in the General Directorate for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, Michael Miller, said that the EU wants to make every effort in this period to help Montenegro achieve progress in meeting the final benchmarks in the negotiation chapters.
– Our commitment and determination is stronger than ever and we want to work closely with Montenegro on its European path. It is important to implement steps throughout the region in order to eliminate energy dependence on Russia and to accelerate the energy transition by implementing reforms in the energy sector – said Miller.
He also added that the European Green Deal, which will make Europe the first climate-neutral continent, which includes the reduction of emissions of gases that create the greenhouse effect, includes the Western Balkans, so the leaders of the Western Balkans at the summit in Sofia undertook to achieve climate neutrality by in 2050.
He reminded that this Subcommittee is taking place in a new political context immediately after the parliamentary and two months after the presidential elections and added that he hopes that soon a new stable majority will be formed in the Parliament which will be able to speed up the EU accession process.
– Progress in the area of the rule of law will determine the overall pace of negotiations. We appeal to the new convocation of the Assembly and to the new Government to focus on the fulfillment of temporary benchmarks in the area of the rule of law because this can enable the closure of a larger number of chapters in a short period of time, it would give a real impetus to the accession process and it would be something that is tangible for your citizens” – he said.
He recalled the new growth plan for the Western Balkans presented by the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, which has four pillars: bringing the Western Balkans closer to the EU single market, deepening regional economic integration, accelerating fundamental reforms and increasing pre-accession funds.
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