PODGORICA – Montenegro has no reason to be dissatisfied with conclusions of the EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia. The European Union (EU) promised large investments in the region and the new summit in Croatia (in 2020), which is a good news, said secretary general of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), Goran Svilanović.
Commenting on the expectations of some countries, such as Albania, that deadlines and dates will be determined at the summit in Sofia, Svilanović said that Brussels had already stressed the summit will not tackle the enlargement perspective, but rather networking.
“Let me remind you of the first summit held in Thessaloniki 15 years ago. So many years have passed and the EU is still committed to investing in the Balkans. The enlargement has been tackled in the context of the Union’s internal changes, and given the new circumstances, the Europeans committed to revise their internal organization by 2015. We shall see which country is to accede the EU first. I would like to thank Bulgarians who did a great job, and it is very significant that we concluded to hold a new summit during Croatian chairmanship,” said Svilanović.
As for the ‘enlargement fatigue’ in the EU, Svilanović simply explained good news from the region is absolutely necessary. “Recent attack on a journalist in Montenegro was just one more ‘bad news’ from Montenegro,” added Svilanović.