Safeguarding democracy, strengthening the rule of law and ensuring credible reforms remain the key priorities for Albania and Montenegro on their path towards European Union membership. This was the main message of Nikola Dobroslavić, Member of Dubrovnik-Neretva County and Member of the EPP Group in the European Committee of the Regions (EPP-CoR) after participating in the EPP mission to Albania and Montenegro, which included a Study Visit to Tirana and a Fact-Finding Mission to Podgorica. During the visit, the delegation held meetings with political leaders, parliamentarians, representatives of the Bosniak Party, ambassadors, media and NGOs, as well as local stakeholders such as municipal mayors.
Dobroslavić, who served as the Committee of the Regions rapporteur on the Western Balkans, underlined that enlargement must remain merit-based and grounded in democratic standards. He emphasised the important role of local and regional authorities in delivering reforms, strengthening institutional resilience and bringing the European perspective closer to citizens.
Dobroslavić who serves as co-Chair of the Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) for Montenegro stated: “In Podgorica we got acquainted with the political opportunities there, especially regarding the wish of the Europe Now Movement! (PES) for joining our family. Meetings with the leadership and members of PES, parliamentarians, Bosniak Party, ambassadors, media and NGOs provided a picture of political opportunities. Montenegro is a leader of countries on the European path and in that it has our full support." He also pointed to challenges posed by anti-Western positions taken by some political parties, as well as their failure to acknowledge and confront crimes committed during the period of Greater-Serbian aggression.
On Albania, Dobroslavić underlined the need to address key democratic concerns: “Albania is progressing on the road to the EU, it should be measured by its achievements, but it must, among other things: to correct recorded irregularities from previous parliamentary elections; to remove the ‘captured state’ and the authoritarian rule of the Socialist Party; clarify the statements about the government's ties with the drug trafficking networks; the opposition must prevent violence in protests.”
EPP Secretary-General Dolors Montserrat stated: “Albania and Montenegro, two countries, one shared challenge: protecting democracy on the EU integration path. We finished our mission in Podgorica and Tirana, the message from the European People's Party is clear: we stand by them on their path to the European Union, but not at any cost. Albania is experiencing democratic backsliding, organised crime and state capture, lack of judicial independence, rule of law and media freedom. Montenegro is doing good steps to become the next European Union member and we celebrated the 20 years of our EPP member party, the Bosniak Party. With the application of the PES Europe Now party of PM Spajić, we work to boost our support for the European accession.”
The mission reaffirmed the importance of democratic standards, the rule of law and strong local and regional governance in the EU enlargement process. The EPP-CoR will continue to closely follow developments in Albania and Montenegro and to support reforms that strengthen their European future.