Negotiating chapter 27 – environment and climate change is also assessed in this Report on
Montenegro’s progress in the EU accession process as an area where limited progress has been
recorded. After last year’s assessment, which was the worst in the last 5 years, this year the same
assessment is repeated, which is completely expected, given that the results in this area are
devastating.
The working group for this chapter was constituted only in October 2021, after which it did not
have a head for months, as stated in the report. It should be noted that the working group was not
reconstituted after the process of reorganization of working groups was initiated, in July 2022.
The key recommendations of the report include waste management, as it is clearly a sub-area
where problems have become very visible and where progress is lacking. The necessity of
adopting a new Law on Waste Management and a Waste Management Plan is emphasized,
which Green Home continuously demands from the Government. The report states that
Montenegro is partially compliant with EU legislation in this area, which is also the assessment
from the previous report. The need for a significant effort on strategic planning and investments
in order to implement the Waste Management Strategy until 2030 is emphasized, as well as the
need to establish a waste separation and recycling system, as well as to solve the issue of
temporary landfills.
There is also limited progress in the sub-area of ​​water quality. Although the Management Plans
for the Danube and Adriatic basins were adopted in the previous period, it is necessary to make
significant efforts in order to implement this legislation.
In the part related to nature protection, limited compliance with EU legislation is stated, and
among other things, it is stated that the recommendations of the Berne Convention from 2018
regarding the Porto Scadar Lake project have not yet been addressed.
In relation to climate change, Montenegro is called upon to intensify the activities of
harmonizing the Climate Change Strategy with the EU 2030 climate and energy policy.
In the end, the Report on Montenegro’s progress in the EU accession process with limited
progress in the field of environmental protection and climate change is actually proof that very
little is being done and that no one is even trying to solve the problems in this area, which is
incomprehensible.
While in developed European countries they have been working on the restoration of areas
devastated by industry for years, in Montenegro throwing waste into the river has become a
completely “normal” way of managing waste. Poaching with electric generators in the national
park is becoming an integral part of tradition, and illegal cutting of forests is a completely
common thing.
All this moves us away from the European Union, and we cannot even talk about approaching its
standards.