Podgorica, (MINA) - Montenegro submitted to the European Commission (EC) a package of laws, strategies and by-laws in the field of environmental protection, the adoption of which is necessary to meet the obligations arising from Chapter 27, said Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Development of the North, Damjan Culafic.

In an interview with the MINA News Agency, Culafic said that all obligations necessary for the temporary closure of the chapter will be completed by June, while a formal decision is expected by the end of the year at the latest.

He said that the Ministry met the March 15 deadline for submitting the normative and strategic framework, and that the EC is currently reviewing eight laws, four or five strategies and more than 95 bylaws.

Culafic assessed that the submitted documentation of several thousand pages is proof of the seriousness of the Montenegrin administration’s work on one of the most complex negotiation chapters.

He emphasized that the Ministry will now wait for the EC’s response to the submitted documentation.

“The sooner the comments arrive, the faster we will communicate and have the opportunity to adopt laws in the Parliament, strategies in the Government, as well as by-laws when the time comes”, said Culafic, adding that he believes in the quality of the prepared documents.

He stated that he expects the state to fulfill all obligations from the road map for closing the chapter by June.

“The deadline that we consider to be the ultimate is December this year for making a decision on the provisional closure of Chapter 27, but I believe that we will create the conditions for the closure to take place much earlier”, said Culafic.

When asked about the transition periods for fulfilling certain obligations from Chapter 27, Culafic said that on February 17, Montenegro submitted to the EC a complete list of requests for approval, which mainly relate to the construction of infrastructure in the field of air protection, waste management and wastewater treatment.

“The transition periods are not too long either. For the removal of all illegal landfills in Montenegro, we asked for a deadline of 2030, and a transition period of ten years for the construction of the necessary wastewater treatment facilities”, explained Culafic.