VII meeting of the Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee between EU and Montenegro was held on Friday, July 8th in Brussels whereby a joint declaration of Montenegrin civil society representatives and their EU counterparts was adopted.
In 2011 a European Commission made an official decision on founding the Joint Consultative Committee between Montenegrin civil society and European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) with an aim to improve cooperation between countries candidates for EU membership and EU bodies.
Participants of VII JCC meeting discussed the progress of Montenegro in negotiation process, the agenda for strengthening infrastructure in energy and transport, the Law on Public Procurements, the state of industrial relations as well as the current state of development of civil society organizations in Montenegro.
Civil society representatives on both sides pointed out the need for inclusion of civil society organisations into all processes important for Montenegrin accession to EU. They also pointed to the issues of workers’ rights, the need for establishing the legislative framework in the area of public procurements, and presented their view on higher pressure imposed to those civil society organisations that are critical of the Government actions in Montenegro.
As the result of the meeting, the Joint Declaration was adopted containing the series of recommendations to Montenegrin and EU institutions as well as to social partners and civil society organisations all aimed at improving the state of affairs in the above mentioned areas.
Montenegrin delegation consisted of the representatives of trade unions, employers’ associations, business associations and NGO sector. Employers’ association and business association were represented by Suzana Radulovic from Montenegrin Employers Federation (MEF) and Pavle Radovanovic from the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro. Srdja Kekovic represented the Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro while the representatives of NGO sector were Momcilo Radulovic from European Movement in Montenegro and Rados Musovic, from the Centre for Development of NGOs. The meeting was attended by permanent observer members of Montenegrin delegation - Milan Dragic from Montenegro Business Alliance, Jelena Ognjenovic from MEF and Natasa Vukasinovic, a Secretary of Social Council of Montenegro.
To get access to the Joint Declaration please click here.
