17/05/2010 President
Addressing the Parliament of Montenegro today as part of his official visit to the country, the PACE President stressed that he got the impression that “Montenegro had come to peace with itself, in its independence gained almost to the day four years ago.”
He welcomed the clear progress the country made including through the adoption of numerous Council of Europe standards and conventions, which will, he said, “assist Montenegro on its road to the European Union membership.”
He underlined he expected the EU to make full use of the reports of PACE when preparing its opinion on the membership application, as was the case on many previous occasions.
He encouraged the Montenegrin authorities to continue their close collaboration with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, especially with regard to the search and arrests of indictees who were still at large.
Referring to the debate held three weeks ago during the last PACE session in Strasbourg, on the first report on ‘Honouring of obligations and commitments by Montenegro’, the President invited the members of Parliament to achieve the process of ratification of several important Council of Europe conventions and complete the adoption of some important laws, such as a new one governing the elections of the members of Parliament. “The mechanisms of parliamentary oversight over the activities of the Government, particularly with respect to the implementation of laws adopted by the Parliament, should also be strengthened,” he added.
“The Assembly’s evaluation is overall positive,” the President said, “and we hope that Montenegro will maintain the current reform dynamic and complete the implementation of its commitments. Having visited your region often in recent times, I have the feeling that there is a readiness among many of the new countries of the former Yugoslavia to re-establish links with each other: a new openness to dialogue. I would welcome such a development,” he concluded.