President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Ranko Krivokapić met in New York his Italian counterpart Mr Pietro Grasso. Mr Krivokapić and Mr Grasso spoke on obligations of our country envisaged by the NATO and EU agenda, with a special emphasis on constitutional changes providing greater independence and efficiency of judiciary and prosecution service. 

During the talk of the two counterparts, Mr Pietro Grasso, as a long standing national anti-mafia prosecutor, praised the previous cooperation with Montenegrin Prosecution Office and agreements signed on the occasion. They welcomed the constitutional strengthening of the national prosecutor as a precondition for independence in fighting the major challenges of Euro-Atlantic integration arising from chapters 23 and 24. Mr Grasso stressed that the Prosecution, in addition to knowledge and expertise must be set on the basis of personal independence and determination that open cases must be supported by evidence in order to get measurable court epilogue.

The two officials agreed that strengthening of the rule of law would be additional incentive to Italian investors in Montenegro, therefore it was necessary, as soon as possible, to permanently regulate relations with Italian investors in EPCG.

On the occasion, it was emphasised that our state had Italian support on its Euro-Atlantic path, and that two parliaments had enough room for intensifying the cooperation and exchanging experiences.

The officials assessed that forthcoming months ahead of Montenegro, in anticipation of the December call for NATO membership, were very binding, but also an opportunity to show the determination in building the system which shared the value of the North Atlantic Alliance system – peace, stability, democracy and rule of law.

President of the Parliament of Montenegro Mr Ranko Krivokapić spoke in New York with President of the United Nations 70^th Session of the General Assembly and recent President of the Danish Parliament Mr Mogens Lykketoft .

President Krivokapić congratulated to Mr Lykketoft on his election as the President of the UN General Assembly, supported by all of 193 UN member states. The interlocutors spoke about pressing issues of today – migrations, stability and security as well as the Ukrainian crisis. Mr Krivokapić, in the capacity of OSCE PA President Emiritus, and initiator and head of the Vienna Process, stressed that that peace project of parliamentary dialogue demonstrated the importance and role of parliaments in addressing the most pressing issues, and that parliamentarians could certainly contribute to de-escalation and solving actual problems of citizens in challenging security situations.  

During the talk, the interlocutors assessed that growing migrant movements call for additional commitment of parliaments to find solutions through their mechanisms, in order to protect primarily human rights and freedoms, but also put a pressure on the executive power to create and implement sustainable economic policy and provide a decent life to citizens: “Economic crises lead to populism which ultimately leads to insecurity, breach of human rights and general instability. The present time askes for leaders which will use politics as a means for addressing challenges, and be the instrument of peace, dialogue and understanding”, Mr Krivokapić assessed.

At the meeting, Euro-Atlantic path of Montenegro was welcomed, as a guarantee of peace and stability in the whole region and wider.

President Krivokapić also talked with his Swedish counterpart Speaker of the Riksdag Mr Urban Ahlin. Montenegrin and Swedish officials talked on full-fledged membership of our state to the EU, assessing the Western Balkans geographically, strategically and culturally pertained to the united Europe and the EU must be increasingly present in our region, making it more prosperous and arranged part of its system.

“We are devoted to negotiation process and implementation of the EU standards, and the basis of the overall process must be the rule of law through strong and stable institutions. Our two parliaments, I would say, have a friendly cooperation resulting in more intensive concreate projects. We are grateful to Sweden for its understanding and expert help on our EU reform course”, Mr Krivokapić emphasised in his talk with Mr Ahlin.

It was noted at the meeting that Sweden will be a partner and a friend to Montenegro on its path to a united community of European nations.