Brussels: About 413 million euros to Montenegro from the Growth Plan to increase the rate of economic growth and speed up the EU accession process
"The Government of Montenegro is strongly determined to, together with the European Commission, through the instrument of the Growth Plan, work on planning and monitoring the implementation of reforms, which will contribute to the economic and overall development of society and speed up the EU accession process. "The Government of Montenegro, based on existing recommendations, including previous economic and reform programs, the expansion package and existing political dialogues, will prepare the Reform Agenda, as a proposal for measures aimed at reform and growth", said the members of the Delegation of the Government of Montenegro in Brussels.
Today, they discussed the Growth Plan and Priority Reform Agenda with representatives of the European Commission. On behalf of the Government, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Nik Gjeloshaj, as well as the Ministers of European Affairs and Energy and Mining, Maida Gorčević and Saša Mujović, participated in the meeting.
The European Commission, in addition to the existing support for the countries of the Western Balkans, proposed an additional investment package of 6 billion euros through the provision of 2 billion euros in grants, and 4 billion euros in the form of favorable loans. Of that amount, around 413 million euros are planned for Montenegro.
The representatives of the European Commission pointed out that, through the financial support of the EU, Montenegro is encouraged to, in the short term, through a combination of reforms and investments, simultaneously increase the rate of economic growth and speed up the process of accession to the European Union. As they said, in this way, together with the already defined funds that the Western Balkans has available through pre-accession funds, for the first time it will be equal to the financial support that EU citizens receive on average.
"In this way, the EU wants to encourage economic growth, reduce the significant difference in the standard of living between the Western Balkans and the EU, and encourage the region to implement more intensive reforms in the process of European integration," the EC said.
The ministers said that the Government will, as soon as possible, prepare and submit to the EC a proposal for the Reform Agenda, with concrete proposals for support measures in three priority areas: business environment, digitization and innovation, and energy. They said that the Government will propose between 60 and 80 reform measures, which will be implemented in the next 4 years, which will be a prerequisite for the allocation of part of the financial support.
Also, as it was pointed out, part of the reform agenda will include part of the key reforms related to the rule of law and public administration reform, which are of particular importance for the EU accession process.
"A significant part of the reforms that are the subject of the Growth Plan has already been defined within the framework of the negotiation process, which will contribute to the quality and speed up the preparation of the Reform Agenda. A good basis for this document will be the preparation of the new Program of Economic Reforms 2024-2026, as well as the recommendations from the recently published EC Report on Montenegro", announced the representatives of the Government.
"The Government of Montenegro will carry out an economic reform, improve the environment for small and medium-sized enterprises and strengthen inspection so that the informal economy becomes a formality zone. This is how we will fulfill the expectations, which are not only the requirements of the European Union but the goal of the Government, we want to create such an environment to attract as many funds as possible from the Development Plan. "Montenegro is a very committed Euro-Atlantic country and a credible NATO partner, and we hope that it will be the first member of the European Union," said the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development, Nik Gjeloshaj.
"Montenegro has a unique opportunity to, based on the quality preparation and successful implementation of the Growth Plan, achieve significant economic progress as well as progress in the negotiation process," said Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević. She said that the Government is determined to accelerate the implementation of reforms in the area of the rule of law, as well as to fulfill the recommendations from this year's EC Report in the short term.
"The Montenegrin Government and the newly formed Ministry of Energy and Mining face many challenges, but also development opportunities. We have an intense period of activity ahead of us, and high on the work agenda are the digitization of the national electricity distribution system, energy transition and decarbonization through capacity building in the field of solar, hydro and wind potential, as well as strengthening the transmission and distribution network," Mujović pointed out and added that Montenegro wants support of the EU in the matter of starting the production of "green steel", said the Minister of Energy and Mining, Saša Mujović.