Podgorica, (MINA) – The formal conditions for the opening of Chapter 27, on environment and climate change, have been met, but there has been no essential progress, the NGO Bird Protection and Research Center (CZIP) has stated.
Jovana Janjusevic of CZIP remarked that the views on whether Montenegro is ready to open Chapter 27 are divided.
“What is now already a public secret is that this chapter will be opened in December this year. It is also clear that the fulfilment of the one and only very technical benchmark will be described by the line ministry as an extraordinary success,” Janjusevic told Mina.
She explains that the opening benchmark for this most complex chapter is the drafting of a document and an action plan for the alignment with and implementation of EU laws in this area.
Strictly formally speaking, Janjusevic noted, the document has been adopted with huge technical, professional and financial assistance of the EU, which is why one can expect formal opening of the chapter.
“However, in addition to the drafting of that document, which is not even being implemented very committedly, there has been no essential progress. Furthermore, the line ministry has been ignoring for quite a while the remarks and appeals for the introduction of urgent measures to protect the Ulcinj Salina, preserve the biodiversity of the Skadar Lake, in relation to the contentious project of Porto Skadar Lake and the forthcoming ‘neighboring’ project known as “White Village”, the CZIP representative said.
This article was published with the financial support of the European Union available within the framework of the project “Dealing with Ethics and Fake News” IPA2018/397-252. The Mina agency assumes full responsibility for its contents, which do not necessarily reflect the position of the EU.
