Montenegrin Speaker Bjarovic: Human and minority rights to be continually promoted


Montenegro has excellent experience with the use of languages. Human and minority rights can never be terminated, but they need to be continually promoted because we all live in a common country.

Montenegro’s Parliament Speaker Ivan Brajovic told reporters Wednesday at the joint press conference with his Macedonian counterpart Talat Xhaferi when asked about his experiences on the use of the language law in his country, since 2017, which foresees use of the Albanian language in municipalities with five percent of Albanian population.

“We in Montenegro are very proud of our multinational and multi-religious coordination. When we prepared for the referendum for independence, the opponents said that minority groups would threaten Montenegrin independence and statehood. Minority groups are loyal citizens of Montenegro. And I always underlined that everyone should take care of roots and be loyal to the country,” Brajovic said.

Parliament Speaker Ivan Brajovic also said in the Macedonian Parliament that Macedonia has made a historic breakthrough to move ahead and they believe the EU, on its part, will give the proper support. “There is no dilemma that a stable, successful, European Macedonia – Republic of North Macedonia I believe very soon – is an indispensable factor for stability and success of our region.”

He expressed a personal wish – the Parliament in Montenegro to be given the chance as soon as possible to ratify the protocol on Macedonia’s accession to NATO, thus becoming one of the first member countries to do so.

“Montenegro is at its disposal to offer its experience gained on its Euro-Atlantic and European integration path. To give you support and to transfer its knowledge, but only if you want us to. Parliamentary democracy plays a huge role in it,” Brajovic said noting that Montenegro was Macedonia’s unwavering partner.At the meeting, Macedonia’s Speaker Xhaferi briefed Brajovic that by endorsement of constitutional changes in Parliament, Macedonia completed its part of Prespa Agreement implementation and now expects positive outcome from the Greek side as well.

“I am grateful for the strong support from Montenegro for our integration into NATO, which is a national interest because this will achieve stability in the region and we can intensify regional cooperation thus opening new perspectives for our citizens,” Xhaferi said.

Speaker Xhaferi is convinced that bilateral and parliamentary cooperation of the two countries in regard to exchange of experiences in EU negotiations will be emphasized in the next period, and they also agreed to work together to intensify the economic cooperation.