PODGORICA – The Netherlands has not requested a slowdown or “pause” in Montenegro’s EU accession process, but currently assessing whether the closing benchmarks for the provisional closure of negotiating chapters have been met, Dutch Ambassador to Montenegro Martijn Elgersma told Vijesti.
“The Netherlands and other EU Member States are currently carrying out the regular procedure of assessing whether Montenegro has met the conditions for closing individual chapters”, he said.
The daily Dan reported on Sunday that the Netherlands had requested a “pause” in the process concerning Montenegro’s further EU integration, citing “the need or additional analysis and more consistent implementation of all defined standards.” Dan also claimed that Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had joined the Netherlands in making the request.
Last Friday, Montenegro’s public broadcaster RTCG reported that the intergovernmental conference that had been expected to take place this month would not be held.
Asked by Vijesti whether the Netherlands had any reservations regarding Montenegro’s further progress in the negotiations and, if so, what those reservations concerned, Elgersma said that country’s approach remained unchanged.
“For each negotiating chapter, we assess whether Montenegro has met the conditions for its closure, known as the closing benchmarks”, the Dutch ambassador said.
Explaining the procedure in Netherlands for approving the closure of negotiating chapters, Elgersma said once discussions at the level of the Council of the EU working group have been completed, the Dutch foreign minister informs parliament of government’s intention to agree to the provisional closure of a chapters, allowing MPs to raise questions about the government’s position.
Once that step has been completed, he explained, the Netherlands can formally approve the provisional closure of the chapter.
Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also told the fact-checking portal Raskrinkavanje on Monday that Estonia had not requested a halt to Montenegro’s EU integration process.
The EU Delegation in Podgorica also responded over the weekend to claims that some EU Member States had requested such a pause, saying the reports were unfounded.
The Delegation stressed that scheduling intergovernmental conferences and provisionally closing negotiating chapters are part of the regular accession process and require the completion of the relevant procedural steps, full compliance with EU rules and standards, as well as the agreement of all Member States in the Council of the EU.
