Montenegro PM seeks EU membership in Paris

The move by Montenegro, a country of just 650,000 people on the Adriatic Sea, is expected to encourage Balkan neighbors such as Albania and Serbia to file EU applications in the coming months.Â

 

The government of Montenegro decided on Thursday to officially submit the bid to France, current holder of the EU presidency.

 

A meeting with Sarkozy is scheduled at midday, the government official told Reuters, adding that EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn would also attend. Djukanovic and Rehn were to give a joint news conference later in the day.

 

"By taking this step, Montenegro commits itself to the accession process and the building of a united Europe which is a strategic goal in which the founders of the European Community invested their vision and commitment," Reuters quoted the government press office as saying in a statement.

 

All states across the Balkans, a region still recovering from wars and political turmoil in the 1990s, plan to join the EU. Macedonia was the last Balkan country to apply for EU membership in 2004.

 

Rehn said in an Oslo speech last week that Montenegro had made progress on reforms, but still had further to go before it would qualify.

 

Montenegro initially planned to apply for EU membership during the Slovenian presidency earlier this year, but postponed its move at the request of the EU.

 

The further expansion of Europe has become a controversial issue in recent years with many countries, France among them, opposed to admitting more new members until the Unions internal rules are reformed.

 

Last year, EU member states thought they had reached a deal to streamline the blocs governance with the Lisbon treaty, but this was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum and has yet to be ratified by the Czech Republic.

 

Aside from Montenegro, Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia have also begun negotiations on joining the group. Albania, Bosnia and Serbia have also been promised the prospect of becoming members, but are not yet in formal talks.

 

The situation of Serbia has been made more complex by the case of Kosovo, which has declared independence and has EU ambitions of its own. Belgrade does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, and EU members are split on the issue.

 

Candidate countries must meet a number of democratic, economic and legal standards before they are allowed to join the Union. Montenegro has promised reform, but has been labeled in the past as a haunt of organized crime.