Montenegro aspires to membership in the European Union before the end of 2024, Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapic said in an interview with the Austrian agency APA.
He said that he hoped that would be the case in the current mandate of the European Commission.
“This government wants to work at an accelerated pace. There is no time to lose,” said Krivokapic, who declared the fight against corruption and organized crime a top priority for his government.
“The most important thing is that the law will no longer be selective, as is still the case at the moment,” Krivokapic said.
As Krivokapić stated, the Government wants to reduce corruption to zero so that there would no longer be “organized crime that is internationally networked”.
The prime minister also criticized the former government's balance sheet in negotiations with the EU. Negotiations lasted for nine years during the previous government, “but apart from the last two and a half years, we have made little progress,” Krivokapic said.
He told the APA agency that Montenegro's pro-Western course is irreversible.
“Montenegro is absolutely independent and our independence can never be questioned,” Krivokapic told Belgrade, according to the APA.
At the same time, he acknowledged that relations with Serbia are currently unclear and in some ways vague.
Asked about the non-paper that recently ignited public controversy in the Western Balkans, Krivokapic believes that the time for border changes has passed.
“We can’t change our past, but we can determine our present and future,” he said.
When asked about the possible exchange of territories in order to resolve the Kosovo issue, Krivokapic said that it was an issue between Belgrade and Pristina.
“There are many possibilities for a good solution. However, with EU membership, everything becomes much easier because the borders within the Union would disappear. “Montenegro has good neighborly relations with all countries in the region and there are no territorial disputes,” Krivokapic stressed.
According to him, Montenegro is a model for other countries in the region when it comes to the possibility of democratic change of government.
“We can give them hope to achieve the same thing,” he said.
Krivokapic praised Austrian Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who hosted a meeting of Western Balkan heads of government in Vienna on Friday.
“This initiative means a lot to us and creates momentum,” the prime minister said. There was a time, he said, “when people wondered if there would be any expansion into the Western Balkans.”
Slovenia's presidency of the EU Council, which begins in early July, is also very important.
“It is important for us to be able to rely on someone who respects us,” Krivokapic said, adding that Janez Jansa was “very well-meaning” and “ready to work to make Montenegro the next EU member state.”