Within the Irish half-year presidency of the European Union, the Meeting of Chairs of Committees on European Affairs of national parliaments of the Member States of the European Union was held in Dublin today.

During the introductory part of the meeting, the attendees were addressed by Mr. Brendan Howlin, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of the Republic of Ireland, who pointed out as presidency priorities stimulation of economic recovery and employment of youth. Investment to resources was stressed, as well as development that promotes creating of new jobs, taking into consideration the advantage of single market and agreement on future investment of the EU for the period 2014-2020. He said that it was necessary to strengthen financial legal framework in order to overcome challenges, which crises caused to the European Union and whole world as well. Referring to the achievements during the Cyprus presidency, the Minister noted the importance of Unitary Patent Packages and Single Control Mechanism.

During his addressing to the gathering, the Chairman of the Committee on European Integration, Mr. Slaven Radunović, pointed out that the decision of the European Council from 2012, by which Montenegro got the “green light” to start negotiations, as well as the positive opinion of the European Commission from October on previous efforts made by the Parliament, the Government and the whole Montenegrin society, was a confirmation that intensive and overall work in the process, that we successfully accomplish our European agenda obligations from, was recognized. “It is important for the region of Western Balkan as a whole”, the Chairman continued, “that despite the difficulties that the European Union is facing with, the policy of enlargement of the European Union continues to reaffirms. We are certain that the issue of enlargement is important for further progress of the Western Balkans and its long-term stability and we welcome the decision that enlargement issue should stay at the top of priorities of the European Union”. Chairman Radulović informed parliamentarians on the work of the Parliament, stating that after recent amending of the Rules of Procedure, the Parliament of Montenegro functioned with larger number of working bodies and new obligations that guarantee stronger control role of the Parliament. The Committee on European Integration was established, and it would directly oversee the negotiation process, as well as Anti-corruption Committee as a kind of response to demanding negotiation chapters 23 and 24. He concluded his addressing with the message that Montenegro would stay dedicated to adopting European values, fulfillment of obligations and full implementation of the reforms that lead to the full-fledged membership to the European Union.

During the meeting, the European path of Montenegro was positively assessed by parliamentarians of the European Union Member States, as well as the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform of Republic of Ireland, who congratulated Montenegro on the previous success regarding fulfillment of the obligations from the European agenda. He emphasized that, during the Irish presidency to the European Union, and in the futer, Montenegro could count on full support of state institutions of the Republic of Ireland. He expressed his expectation, that during the presidency of Ireland to the European Union, Montenegro would open negotiation chapters 23 and 24.

The continuation of the Meeting was marked by the discussion on challenges of functioning economic and monetary union, when the European Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration, Mr. Maroš Šefčovič, had his presentation. The Commissioner presented six measures of the European Commission, directed to strengthening of monetary union and maintenance of macroeconomic stability. “The special attention must be paid to creating of the instruments which would overcome economic shocks that occur during structural changes”, Mr. Šefčovič said. “Evident tendency of fall of trust of citizens to the European Union must be prevented through special strategies directed to the more transparent work of the European institutions, as well as to policies caused by them, aimed at joint answer to the economic crises. Closer cooperation of the member states, carful decision-making on national level and overcoming of democratic gulf between the citizens and the European Union through stronger activity of the national parliaments represent answers to the situation that the Union is in”, Mr. Šefčovič concluded.

During the COSAC Meeting, Delegation of the Parliament of Montenegro met with several parliamentary delegations, and agreed closer cooperation with them. It was specially pointed out to the need of exchanging experiences with the parliamentarians from the countries that are going through the similar negotiation phase. Apart from the Chairman of the Committee on European Integration, the Meeting was also attended by the member of the Committee, Mr. Jovan Martinović.