Presidency supports accession of Montenegro to Euro-Atlantic Structures

The Presidency delegation, chaired by President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek, visited Montenegro today with a message to the representatives of the country that they are on the right track to becoming a full EU Member.

“Montenegro has been successful and quite fast in making its dream come true. The results of the last progress report under the Stabilisation and Association Agreement are positive. The candidate country application is due this year, and I hope that the evaluation process and the negotiations on Montenegro’s accession to the European Union start as soon as possible”, said President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek.

According to Topolánek, Montenegro has almost fully satisfied the visa liberalisation conditions, and now an extensive approval process lies ahead of the country; however, it should not be delayed. The Presidency has visited the Western Balkans region to strengthen the hopes of the people who live there that they will live to see their countries join the Euro-Atlantic Structures. “I am here today to fulfil a priority of our Presidency, namely to move forward in the accession talks with the countries in the Western Balkans.

I am here to show that each country of this region has diverse values, different priorities and faces different problems in acceding to the European Union and NATO and although they may have the same goals, they are given different labels,“ added Prime Minister Topolánek.

In addition to accession issues, the discussions focused on the impacts of the global financial crisis on the national economies or on Europe’s energy security. Czech Prime Minister and President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek also visited the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia yesterday.