Consultations with representatives of parliamentary parties

Spajić: Through dialogue and political maturity to the swift completion of the Constitutional Court; EU accession as a national interest

The completion of Montenegro's negotiation process with the European Union is a national interest, and creating the preconditions for full rule of law, including the election of judges of the Constitutional Court, should be the result of consensus between the government and the opposition.

This was the key message from today's consultations on the election of Constitutional Court judges, opened by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić with representatives of parliamentary parties.

The consultations were attended by representatives of the Europe Now Movement Vasilije Čarapić, the Democratic Party of Socialists Danijel Živković, New Serbian Democracy Jelena Božović, Democratic Montenegro Nikola Rovčanin, the Bosniak Party Mirsad Nurković, the Socialist People's Party Bogdan Božović and Krsto Rađenović, the Social Democrats Boris Mugoša, the Croatian Civic Initiative Adrijan Vuksanović, and the Albanian Forum Artan Čobi.

The Prime Minister emphasized that the goal of the consultations is inclusiveness and achieving the broadest possible consensus on all important issues of interest to citizens and the state, as well as the achievement of the strategic objective - Montenegro's membership in the European Union.

We are opening a cycle of intensive talks with the aim of delivering good news to our citizens and, as soon as possible, if feasible by the end of the year, announcing that we have a fully completed Constitutional Court. The functionality of institutions and creating the preconditions for full rule of law are our priorities, Prime Minister Spajić stated.

As he noted, Montenegro is progressing toward EU membership in line with the planned dynamics, but there will still be challenges in the final phase of the process.

Among them are Chapters 23 and 24. Therefore, it is up to all of us to do everything we can to reach the best solutions to all open issues through dialogue. I expect that by the end of the year Parliament will elect at least one judge of the Constitutional Court, and that through the upcoming intensive work we will jointly fulfill all obligations arising from the demanding European agenda, the Prime Minister said.

President of the Constitutional Committee Jelena Božović announced that a session of this parliamentary body has been scheduled for tomorrow, at which the number of applications received for Constitutional Court judge candidates will be confirmed, followed by the election procedure.

Representatives of the parliamentary parties assessed positively the Prime Minister's initiative to open consultations on important issues related to Montenegro's European path.

They agreed that Montenegro's integration into the European Union is a national interest and that everyone will contribute accordingly, both with regard to completing the Constitutional Court and in relation to legislative solutions and harmonization with EU legislation.