Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović touts Nato membership for Ukraine

euronews (in English)

President of Montenegro said he 'believes every nation has its right to choose its future' and that Ukraine would eventually become a NATO member.

Transcript

00:00Montenegro has been a NATO member since 2017 and pays just over 2% of its GDP on defence.

00:14Its path to joining the EU is also well underway.

00:17It hopes to be the 28th member state by 2028.

00:21But there are many reforms that are still outstanding, such as independence of the judiciary

00:25and freedom of the press.

00:27For the Europe Conversation, I catch up with its president, Yakov Milatovich, and I asked

00:32him about these reforms.

00:36So President Milatovich, your country has been waiting 12 years in the wings as a candidate

00:41country starting negotiations for accession.

00:44The idea is you're becoming an EU member by 2028.

00:47Is that practical or is that a reality still?

00:51So when I became the president of the country last year, I was selected by the people on

00:56a very clear EU agenda.

00:58We have set an ambitious goal, indeed, but I believe still a realistic one.

01:05And this is about Montenegro becoming the 28th member state of the EU as of 2028.

01:11I believe that what has been good news is that there is a new momentum in Brussels,

01:19also in the other capitals of the member states, about the enlargement.

01:23I believe that the whole situation about the enlargement really changed in 2022, following

01:31the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where also Europe, the EU, understood that the enlargement

01:39policy is also about the security of the European continent.

01:42Because if you look at some of the outstanding issues, because as you mentioned there, it

01:45is merit-based and there's a huge focus on rule of law, and some of the outstanding issues

01:50are the independence of the judicial system, freedom of expression, press freedom and corruption.

01:56So there are some of the pillars.

01:57But if you look at, for example, press freedom, there are concerns on what has been described

02:02as a hostile environment for investigative reporting, from reporters without borders,

02:07that there's self-censorship and often political pressure applied to journalists.

02:11And that hasn't evolved much over the last couple of years.

02:15Well, there are challenges.

02:19If there are no challenges, we would already be the part of the EU.

02:24But this is why I truly see the EU accession process as a key anchor, which constantly

02:32reminds the policymakers about the reform agenda.

02:36And this is all about rule of law, about good governance, about economic development, about

02:45public administration reform, about the media environment.

02:47I believe that ever since I became the president, I was very clear that, for me, the EU accession

02:56is indeed about reforms, not only about trying to get some EU funding for different infrastructure

03:03projects.

03:04That's important.

03:05But I believe what is even more important is to be able to use the process as a transformative

03:14way for your country, which would ultimately benefit to the people.

03:18Because we all want to live in a society where there is a clear rule of law, where there

03:24is a clear good governance, where there is zero corruption.

03:27And do you believe that, from a cultural perspective, there is an effort to ensure that journalists

03:33are allowed to practice without fear or favor or intimidation?

03:37There are challenges still.

03:39There are cases from the past about the attacks on the journalists that still have not been

03:45fully brought to an end.

03:50Whenever I speak, and I have recently spoke at a very important conference on the media

03:55environment in Southeast Europe that was hosted by Montenegro, those are exactly the points

04:01that I have focused on.

04:03I believe that the fundamental of democratic development is a free media environment, competitive

04:11media environment, freedom of speech.

04:15And this is really a crucial part also of my public endeavors.

04:24We have made progress.

04:26Unfortunately, certain setbacks have happened as well, especially when it comes to independence

04:33of our public broadcaster.

04:37I think that that's something that needs to be corrected in the future in terms of editorial

04:46independence.

04:47And then also corruption is one of the areas that you have actually increased in terms

04:51of improvement when it comes to Transparency International.

04:55But there are still concerns around criminal corruption, corruption within politics, and

05:01also smaller things like petty bribery and so on.

05:04Is that an area that you're heavily focused on?

05:07Absolutely.

05:08And when I also became the president, I was very clear about the policy that I'm pursuing,

05:19and that's the policy of zero corruption.

05:21I believe fundamentally that's the basis for economic development.

05:28Over the many past years, and this is exactly what we are now realizing, many of the people

05:36within our judiciary system who were appointed to fight corruption and organized crime on

05:42behalf of the people of Montenegro were actually part of organized crime and corruption.

05:48Now many of them are being processed.

05:51So there is a clear progress, especially within our prosecution, now also within our

05:58court system.

05:59So the things are moving in the right direction.

06:02You know, you mentioned there enlargement as very important in terms of security for

06:05the whole of Europe.

06:07When Montenegro had high levels of Russian interference, it was around foreign policy

06:11decisions about becoming a member of NATO, independence, and probably you will see some

06:17interference.

06:18Are you concerned about that, or what can the country do to try to defend itself from

06:22interference?

06:23I believe that a very important decision that Montenegro has made in the past was becoming

06:28the member of NATO.

06:30In 2017, Montenegro became a member of NATO alliance, and that really made Montenegro

06:40more secure, more protected, and more resilient when it comes to the threats from the third

06:48countries.

06:49Definitely, you know, that over the past few years, NATO and other NATO members helped

06:57Montenegro to make sure that the whole system becomes more resilient.

07:02I think that the challenges were the biggest within the cyber space.

07:08The country was faced with a number of cyber attacks, public administration as well.

07:15However, the efforts that we have put together with some of the countries from the EU as

07:21well as from NATO made the whole country more resilient now.

07:28It's always about the joint effort, but being part of a collective security defense mechanism

07:36such as NATO, and naturally pursuing the same foreign security policy as the one of

07:45the EU, it all makes a lot of help.

07:48It's interesting you make that point.

07:50What would you say to countries like Russia, for example, sometimes you hear it in Serbia

07:54that the reason for the war in Ukraine is because of NATO enlargement encroaching into

07:59Russia.

08:00What would you say to that argument?

08:02I mean, you know, from the very day one, you know that Montenegro has supported the choice

08:09of the Ukrainian people when it comes to their Euro-Atlantic future.

08:14I believe that every nation has its right to choose its future.

08:19I believe that Montenegro's NATO membership back in 2017 was good for Montenegro, but

08:26also was good for the region, the wider region of the Western Balkans, which also had its

08:33own challenges in the past.

08:35I believe that Montenegro's NATO membership strengthened the stability of the region,

08:41and now Montenegro is also perceived by many as a credible NATO member.

08:48So in that regard, our position is very clear.

08:52What's your own interpretation of President Zelensky's victory plan?

08:56Do you believe that Ukraine should be offered a path to membership, a formal path to membership,

09:02more than the indestructible bridge, in order to have a strong position to end this war?

09:08You know, I was very happy to attend the peace summit in Switzerland, which was held a few

09:17months ago.

09:18I believe that was the right step in the right direction.

09:23Many of the world nations were there as well, supporting the peace plan of President Zelensky.

09:31I think that the position of Montenegro was also very clear when we supported the NATO

09:38decision last year to elevate the relationship with Ukraine from the formal level that we

09:47had, which was the commission between NATO and Ukraine, to the more strategic relationship

09:56that we currently have.

09:57But do you believe that Ukraine should be – President Zelensky is calling for a formal

10:03invitation as part of the victory plan.

10:05Do you support that?

10:07This is definitely going to be sort of among some important discussions that are going

10:12to be held between the current NATO members, especially ahead of the next summit in The

10:19Hague.

10:20I believe that NATO has been very supportive to Ukraine over the last very challenging

10:31period.

10:32Now you know that we also have launched the so-called NATO mechanism for support of Ukraine.

10:40So there are all very important steps when it comes to the just peace in Ukraine, which

10:48is ultimately what the goal is.

10:51So you would support, I suppose, if it's on the table, a membership?

10:55Well, you know, I said it's going to be part of the discussion.

10:59OK.

11:00Just a final question before I let you go, because we know that in the call with Donald

11:04Trump and Mark Rutte in relation to NATO, Donald Trump made it clear that Europe has

11:08to do more heavy lifting.

11:10I don't know if in your conversation with Secretary General Rutte, he explained to you

11:15a little bit more about that.

11:16What does it mean Europe needs to do more heavy lifting?

11:19Are we in chartered territories?

11:21Well, I think, you know, ultimately it comes to the spending.

11:24And you know, as the President Trump had already put the focus on it when he was previously

11:31the president, I believe that that's going to be again the focus, which, you know, is

11:37good for resilience of Europe in terms of security, in terms of its own, you know, defence

11:43industry.

11:44And Montenegro is part of the alliance.

11:46So in that regard, I think it's good for Montenegro as well.

11:49OK.

11:50Well, President Milutovic, President of Montenegro, thank you very much for joining us on the

11:53Europe Conversation.

11:54Thank you very much.

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