Podgorica, (MINA) - The pace of Montenegro’s EU accession process should be faster, said Zoran Mikic, an MP of the Civic Movement URA, stating that he does not think that, if the current trend continue, all chapters will be closed by the end of the year.

In an interview with the MINA News Agency, Mikic said that the current pace of the negotiation process is not good.

“I have become more and more skeptical lately that we will be able to close all chapters by the end of this year with the current Government. I believe they set this goal more as a marketing goal for political gain than as a realistic objective”, Mikic added.

He believes that the pace of closing chapters should be faster.

“If we continue as we did in the first three months, I think that closing all chapters will be an impossible mission”, Mikic said.

 

 

He also questioned the fact that many legal solutions are not aligned with EU partners.

“I believe that a decision was made in Brussels years ago that there will be enlargement, now the only uncertainty remains to see how the referendum in Iceland will turn out and what the citizens of that country will decide, and the only question is whether the next member of the EU will be Montenegro or whether it will be Montenegro and Iceland together”, Mikic added.

He said that there is no doubt that Montenegro will be the next EU member.

“Whether that happens on January 1, June 1, in 2028 – after waiting all these years, I don’t think six or 12 months will cost us much as a country”, Mikic said.

He believes that lately, especially after the adoption of the law on internal affairs and the National Security Agency, the gap between the government and the opposition has deepened.

Mikic assessed that the adoption of those two laws will also affect the functioning of the Parliament.

He said that the Committee for Comprehensive Electoral Reform is a “victim of Botun”.

“Because the Committee’s mandate was supposed to be extended on December 31 last year, however, due to the events surrounding the construction of the wastewater treatment plant and the decision of the Parliament Speaker not to hold a session that day, that session was never held”, Mikic explained.

He stated that another important issue, which has not been resolved, is the issue of the voter registry.

“It is a matter that requires the joint work by both the Government and the Parliament. The third issue important for the electoral reform is the professionalization of the election administration bodies”, said Mikic.

Asked if he thinks there is will for electoral reform, Mikic said that neither the government nor the opposition has shown sufficient will.

“I am sure that there are at least three or four political subjects in the Parliament that are not in favor of the introduction of the open lists system. I also think that there are at least two or three political subjects that are not in favor of voter registry reform. And each for their own reasons”, stated Mikic.

Commenting on the relations between the DNP and the New Serbian Democracy, Mikic said that time will tell if this is their strategy or if there has been a split between the two parties.

Speaking about the DNP’s initiatives to introduce the tricolor flag and dual citizenship, he said that these topics are important to part of the population, but that they should be left for the period after Montenegro joins the EU.