English

EU wrote Bečić and Abazović off?

In the 30th session of the Committee on European Integration which was held yesterday, Head of  EU Delegation to Podgorica, Mr Aivo Orav, said that Brussels was surprised that leader of Democrats, Mr Aleksa Bečić and leader of Civic Movement URA, Mr Dritan Abazović, had failed to adhere to the agreement reached with the High Representative of the EU for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, Mr Johannes Hahn.

Head of the EU Delegation said he was surprised by the fact that Mr Bečić and Mr Abazović had reneged on the agreement reached on 20 May last year.

Mr Orav attended the session of the Committee on European Integration in order to present the findings of the EC Progress Report to the members of the Committee.

Mr Orav spoke about the assessment of the current situation and level of readiness of Montenegro for the EU membership, especially focusing on the political criteria and the rule of law. The Ambassador turned his attention to the electoral legislation, Parliament work, parliamentary supervision, political dialogue, judicial system and the results achieved in the fight against corruption and organized crime, freedom of the media and public administration reform.

He pointed out that almost every segment of the agreement had been implemented. But there’s one problem – “there are no Democrats and URA”.

“They aren’t here today. They are still boycotting the Parliament. European Union cannot back that boycott as it would bring into question the reforms that are supposed to be implemented by next elections”, said Mr Orav.

He stressed that the agreement reached a year ago had been violated. Mr Bečić and Mr Abazović said they were ready to fight for the consistent implementation of the proposed solutions.

“I think all political subjects in democratic institutions must engage in the constructive debate. The debate must take place in Parliament. We’ve had very productive conversation with party leaders about the process which is ahead of us. There will be challenges, but progress is always possible. Key elements: progress in the freedom of speech and media freedom, judicial reform, electoral legislation reform”.

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