Prime Minister meets with Slovakia’s Minister of Foreign and European Affairs

Blanár to Spajić: You are in a strong position, working with dedication and successfully leading the region’s EU integration

Montenegro deserves to join the family of European nations as soon as possible, and Slovakia remains a consistent advocate of European Union enlargement, strongly supporting Montenegro as a frontrunner on that path.

This was conveyed during the meeting between Prime Minister Milojko Spajić and Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia Juraj Blanár, who is paying an official visit to Montenegro.

During the talks held at Villa Gorica, the exceptionally good and friendly relations between Montenegro and Slovakia were highlighted, along with a shared interest in further enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries.

The meeting welcomed the Government of Montenegro’s decision to open an Embassy in Bratislava, which, as assessed, will contribute to the further strengthening of bilateral partnership. Satisfaction was also expressed regarding the increase in the number of direct flights between the two countries starting this summer.

A special focus of the discussion was Montenegro’s European integration process and Slovakia’s strong support on that path.

Prime Minister Spajić emphasized that, in the year marking two decades since the restoration of independence, Montenegro is accelerating the final stretch of its European path – closing all negotiating chapters – while simultaneously playing an active role through its presidency of the Berlin Process and other important European initiatives.

For this reason, we consider this year to be a turning point on the path toward achieving our strategic goal of EU membership, which will open new development opportunities for our citizens and economy, and make the European perspective of the entire Western Balkans more tangible. We are grateful for Slovakia’s continuous and strong support in achieving our strategic objective, the Prime Minister stated.

Minister Blanár underlined that Slovakia fully supports Montenegro’s goal of becoming the 28th member of the European Union by 2028, assessing that Montenegro is a leader among candidate countries.

We strongly support your European path. You are currently in a strong position, with 13 provisionally closed chapters and a significant number ready to be closed. We are confident that you will meet the remaining obligations, and your leadership is clearly committed to that objective, the Minister said.

He added that he expects the younger generations of politicians to continue the EU path founded on a policy of peace.

The two officials agreed that continuous and intensive dialogue, along with the support of the EU and its Member States, as well as joint efforts in implementing reforms, are key to accelerating the closing of negotiating chapters and successfully completing Montenegro’s integration process.