Croatian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gordan Grlić Radman said on Monday that Zagreb does not block Montenegro’s progress in the accession negotiations, but insists on fulfilling the basic principles on which the EU is based. “We cannot talk about the blockade, you see that so far we have agreed to close a number of negotiation chapters”, said Grlić Radman, who participated in the meeting of the ministers of foreign affairs of the EU member states in Luxembourg.
He said that Montenegro has so far met the technical criteria in the accession process, and that the criteria from the chapters on Justice and Fundamental Rights and Justice, Freedom and Security are yet to be met.
“We are looking for 14 missing persons, we want war crimes to be prosecuted, we want to see the return of stolen property to the Croats of Montenegro. We know that some other minorities have had that property returned, but the Croats have not, and we consider that discrimination and that is something we insist on and that is part of the negotiation chapters 23 and 24,” said the Croatian minister. He also pointed out that it is necessary to pay compensation to the inmates in Morinje, that Croatian experts estimated that Croatian vessels worth 2.7 billion dollars ended up in Montenegro, and that the training ship Jadran, which Croatia claims is “only the tip of the iceberg”. He added that he has assurances from the Montenegrin side that certain developments will be made regarding open issues.
Montenegro will close three new negotiation chapters on Monday night, bringing the number of closed chapters to 21. Grlić In his speech at the meeting, Radman emphasized the importance of the stability of the Western Balkans for the security of the whole of Europe and confirmed Croatia’s strong support for EU expansion, with consistent compliance with merit criteria for membership. He warned of worrying political and security trends in that region, especially the glorification of war crimes and historical revisionism, stressing that such phenomena are not compatible with European values. He recalled the Declaration from the meeting at the MED9 summit in Split, which highlighted the importance of commitment to reconciliation and the unequivocal rejection of the glorification of war crimes and genocide as a precondition for progress towards EU membership.
In the discussion about Russian aggression against Ukraine, in which the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrij Sibiha participated, the Minister of Grlić Radman confirmed the continuation of strong Croatian support to Ukraine, especially in the area of anti-aircraft defense and energy security in the run-up to winter. He emphasized the need to maintain strong sanctions pressure on Russia, including the suppression of sanctions evasion. He also warned of the intensification of Russian hybrid activities against the EU and its member states and called for a decisive and coordinated European response. The meeting also discussed Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Middle East and attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the airport in Riyadh, Russian hybrid attacks, disinformation campaigns, and the situation in Georgia.