On the first day of the visit of co-rapporteurs of the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to Montenegro, numerous meetings were organized in the Parliament of Montenegro.

The President of the Parliament of Montenegro and of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mr Ranko Krivokapić met with co-rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee, Mr Kimm Sassi and Mr Terry Leyden.

In addition, co-rapporteurs held the meeting with members of the Anti-Corruption Committee, as well as with representatives of political parties represented in the Parliament of Montenegro.

Head of the delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Mr Predrag Sekulić and members Ms Draginja Vuksanović, Mr Mladen Bojanić and Ms Snežana Jonica met with co-rapporteurs on the working lunch. The discussion was about the activities carried out in the period since the previous visit of co-rapporteurs to Montenegro, held in July 2013, with emphasis to the situation in the media and the fight against corruption and organized crime, as two key areas that co-rapporteurs were interested in.

The co-rapporteurs assessed that Montenegro was making steady progress in the democratization of the system, was the leader among the countries of the region, which was commendable, as well as that it was necessary to continue with continuous activities in the fight against corruption and organized crime and to ensure media freedom.

Previously, the co-rapporteurs met with representatives of NGOs, media and the Journalist Self-Regulatory Body, as well as with members of the Commission to monitor actions of the competent state authorities regarding the investigations of old and recent cases of intimidation and violence against journalists, murders of journalists and attacks on the media property.

The first day of the visit co-rapporteurs end at the working dinner with representatives of international organizations based in Montenegro.

Co-rapporteurs will continue with their work in the next two days, having series of meetings established by the agenda, and will hold the press conference in the Parliament of Montenegro, on Wednesday, 16 April 2014 at 1:00 pm.