The European Commission has warned Montenegro that it risks being suspended from the Growth Plan if it does not withdraw decisions on changes to the visa regime for third countries by the end of this month. Given the growing number of countries that are not compliant with the EU visa regime, and to meet the steps of the Reform Agenda, Montenegro must remove two countries from its visa-free regime by the end of February 2025.
This reaction comes after Montenegro added a new country, Bahrain, to its visa-free regime and changed Saudi Arabia's visa-free regime from seasonal to permanent, A2 reports.
Regarding this reaction of the European Commission, the Government of Montenegro said that "in the current global circumstances, access to new markets and the facilitated arrival of tourists and investors are key to the sustainability of Montenegrin tourism. It is precisely the clear economic interests that are the main reason why Montenegro established a visa-free regime with a certain number of countries."
"In cooperation with the EU, we will continue to seek the best solutions, which will simultaneously satisfy our national economic interests and the obligations we have in the EU membership process," the Montenegrin government's response states.
The Montenegrin opposition sees these actions as a threat to Montenegro's European future and accused the ruling parties of destroying Montenegro's state institutions.
"Since 2020, the ruling parties in Montenegro have been competing to see who is destroying the institutions and security system the most to prevent the country's European integration," said the leader of the opposition Democratic Socialist Party, Danijel Živković.
On the other hand, the informal student group "Kamo Sjutra" ("Towards Tomorrow") announced on Wednesday that it has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Democratic Party of Montenegro and its government officials.
According to this group, government officials from this party have made "false accusations of links between the organizers of the student protest and criminal clans and corruption," directly endangering this group, according to them.
They accused Interior Minister Danilo Sharanovic of comments made in the press when he stated that "there is operational data for such an assessment", although according to the students, he has not provided any evidence for them.
According to the student group, accusations by political officials against the organizers have fueled hate speech, threats, and insults on social media against them.
Daily protests have continued with roadblocks in Podgorica and other cities since the beginning of the year. Students are demanding the resignation of security sector leaders over the Cetina massacre, in which 13 people were killed and three others were injured.
The student protests are also finding support among the public in Montenegro, where many residents are angry about what they consider slow police reforms, which lack staff and funding, and bureaucratic and political infighting within the government./ Voice of America (A2 Televizion)
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