- 2 days ago
Премьер-министр Черногории вводит визовые ограничения для российских путешественников
В большом интервью Euronews премьер-министр Черногории Милойко Спаич рассказывает о вступлении своей страны в ЕС к 2028 году и о важности согласования своей внешней политики с Брюсселем.
ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ : http://ru.euronews.com/2025/12/18/montenegro-stops-visas-for-russians
Подписывайтесь: Euronews можно смотреть на Dailymotion на 12 языках
В большом интервью Euronews премьер-министр Черногории Милойко Спаич рассказывает о вступлении своей страны в ЕС к 2028 году и о важности согласования своей внешней политики с Брюсселем.
ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЕЕ : http://ru.euronews.com/2025/12/18/montenegro-stops-visas-for-russians
Подписывайтесь: Euronews можно смотреть на Dailymotion на 12 языках
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02:27There are two dimensions to this issue.
02:30There are the technical criteria that you all fulfill,
02:36and then there is the political will.
02:39Now, so far there hasn't been a decision yet
02:44when Montenegro will be accepted.
02:48Do you fear that there are still some powers at work here
02:53that could derail your accession to the EU,
02:57powers that you have no control over?
03:00I think that the technical side, like when you first mentioned,
03:04is extremely important.
03:07So never to be forgotten that we need to do our fair share of the tasks,
03:12and we have to be ready for the entrance.
03:15And it's in our own interest.
03:17It's in the interest of the whole union,
03:21because obviously once we join the EU, we want to add value.
03:25We don't want to detract value.
03:28So we want the EU to be richer with our sin,
03:31and this is truly what we really believe in.
03:35So with all the reforms that we are going to do,
03:37with the economic growth that we will see in the next couple of years,
03:42we think we'll be a great candidate,
03:44and we will be somebody that the EU will be richer with.
03:50Secondly, obviously political support is very, very important.
03:54We need all the 27 member states to feel, truly believe,
03:59that it's in their national interest to see Montenegro as part of the EU.
04:04We need to convince them in that.
04:05And I think most of them, or I would say all of them,
04:08are more or less there, but we cannot relax.
04:12We have to be very, very focused on the great relations with all the 27 member states.
04:18Obviously, there are member states that are a little bit more conservative
04:23towards the enlargement as a concept,
04:26so we have to work very hard on those countries.
04:30They're the ones that are very focused on the rule of law,
04:32and obviously Balkan countries traditionally have been focused in terms of that,
04:39so we have to do absolutely, you know, we've done a lot of reforms,
04:44as evidenced by the interim benchmarks last year,
04:47and as Chapter 5 that we closed this year,
04:50that's one of the fundamental chapters.
04:52But again, this is just the beginning.
04:56We have to do a lot more.
04:57We have to showcase that we are doing a great job in terms of rule of law.
05:02There's big popular support in Montenegro for your country joining the EU.
05:07I think 80% or something of people in Montenegro want to join the EU.
05:14Do you fear that this level of support and excitement might decrease
05:19if the whole process keeps dragging on?
05:23I think that's a fair point.
05:26You know, that's a great question and fair point that you just made.
05:30And we see historically support for EU accession of Montenegrins
05:36was always around 55, 65-ish percent.
05:40There was a majority, but not a very strong majority until this government came in.
05:45So since we came in and the optimism about the EU enlargement really took,
05:53you know, people felt it's really real this time.
05:55You know, you had a plethora of prime ministers who were coming out in front of people saying,
06:00hey, you know, we are doing this for European integrations.
06:05We are politically trying to motivate the public administration to work hard, etc.
06:11But, you know, like public administration was not, at some point of time,
06:15was saying, hey, this is like the people are changing and the same story is going on.
06:19But I think finally this time around, people really believe it's possible.
06:26Montenegro is a very diverse country culturally, ethnically,
06:31at a time when diversity almost has become a negative connotation.
06:38I want to ask you, to what extent do you think this diversity in your country
06:46will be an asset for Europe?
06:50That's a great point.
06:52And, you know, with tolerance, with the culture of building consensus,
07:01with culture of looking at the future and not looking at the past,
07:05at the culture of non-zero-sum game.
07:10So, as I say, like win-win, you know, striving for win-win situations.
07:16Even countries that are as diverse as Montenegro,
07:20which is in Europe, there is no other country without ethnic majority.
07:25We are probably the only ones.
07:27You know, Montenegrins, 40-something percent.
07:29Then we have Serbs at 30 percent.
07:31We have Bosniaks close to 20 percent.
07:32We have other groups like Albanians and Croats in significant numbers.
07:38Most recently, the Ukrainians and a bit of Turks and others.
07:45So, these are like, you know, the people.
07:48We are a very, very diverse country.
07:51But we are proud of that.
07:53Let's assume that Montenegro will join the EU soon.
07:56Do you think this would have a galvanizing effect
07:58for the whole process in the Western Balkans?
08:01This is what I'm trying to say.
08:03And I think we can be a fantastic bridge
08:05and a big help to all of the other countries,
08:08you know, to not only speed up reforms,
08:10but also to politically help them
08:12and to translate a little bit, you know,
08:16sometimes, you know, difficulty to understand
08:20the Western Balkan circumstances.
08:23That, you know, obviously, for the culture or other reasons,
08:26you know, it's not always easy to understand the Western Balkans.
08:29So, Montenegro has adopted the euro as its currency since 2002, I believe.
08:35We actually did this with Deutsche Mark first.
08:40So, we got grandfathered into the euro zone.
08:42Wonderful.
08:43So, you have the euro.
08:45You have aligned Montenegro's foreign policy with the EU.
08:48That begs the question, is there any alternative for Montenegro?
08:54You know, like, I'm not even thinking,
08:55nobody's thinking about the alternatives.
08:57You know, EU members, full membership of the European Union
09:02is what we are gunning for, what we are up there for.
09:05And I think that's just a fair point.
09:08You know, we are surrounded by European Union.
09:12We are, as you already said, we are already with CEPA now.
09:17Just recently, we have introduced CEPA to our system.
09:21Very soon, we'll have free roaming with the European Union countries.
09:26So, we are integrating in the single market
09:28at the extent unseen until now.
09:31So, we are looking at, you know,
09:34we just had the European fantastic conference
09:36held in Lustica in Montenegro
09:38between European Union and Montenegro
09:42on the investments coming from EU.
09:45We are building our infrastructure
09:47using the EBRD, EIB, and other IFIs coming from Europe.
09:52So, we are really, truly integrating
09:55and further and further with Europe,
09:58with political Europe, with EU.
10:00So, this is our goal.
10:02I want to follow up on this.
10:03Sure.
10:04Because you are, you have been touting Montenegro's
10:08green, sustainable development
10:10and digital transformation.
10:13We've talked about investment.
10:16What is it that Montenegro brings to the table?
10:20And some observers say that Montenegro
10:22is always more progressive than some old EU members.
10:27It depends on the, I wouldn't compare us to anybody else.
10:31It's kind of difficult to compare
10:33because we are really a small country
10:34which has its benefits as well.
10:38And being a small country
10:39and a country that is not really burdened
10:42with these ethnic tensions or...
10:45So, this is a factor that basically relieves...
10:49And also, our income per capita
10:50is highest of all the candidate states.
10:52So, as we are seeing with our most recent census,
10:57we have seen a slight increase in population
11:01in the last 10 plus years.
11:04So, we are not likely to see big emigration
11:08or people living in Montenegro,
11:10but rather than actually some of the Central
11:13or Western Europeans might consider living
11:15in nice weather and, you know,
11:17in a country of relatively low taxes
11:19as compared to the other options.
11:21And so, and the friendly system, nice food.
11:25And, you know, so Montenegro is a place
11:28that I think, you know, many Europeans, obviously,
11:32and, you know, many Montenegrins,
11:34many Montenegrin kids will go to universities
11:36around Europe.
11:37And, you know, many people from our public administration
11:39might come to work in Brussels.
11:42So, as a part of EU, you know,
11:44there'll be a labor movement.
11:45And I think Montenegro is unlikely to see
11:50a big number of people leaving the country.
11:52But going back to the point of the benefits
11:55of Montenegro joining,
11:56I think we can be a fantastic,
11:58really good bridge to the other candidate states.
12:01As through our ethnic fabric,
12:05through our understanding of the whole region,
12:08through our shared history and the culture
12:10and the values,
12:13I think we can really help bridge this gap
12:16that is sometimes existing.
12:18And also, I think what we also bring to the table
12:22is, as a small dynamic economy,
12:26is a country that can be seen as incubator
12:31of some of the more progressive ideas
12:34in terms of innovation.
12:36And it's not burdened with the old vested interests
12:38that some other, you know, big countries have.
12:41But, you know, we don't have as much
12:44developed these industries.
12:45So it's naturally we are positioned,
12:48we have a very, you know,
12:51it's not that hard to change our legislation, etc.
12:54We are much more flexible on this.
12:56On something totally different.
12:57Sure.
12:58So due to the wars in what used to be Yugoslavia,
13:02there is still a large stockpile of weapons
13:04in circulation in Montenegro.
13:07And together with Serbia,
13:10people own the most weapons in Europe,
13:14namely 39 per 100 inhabitants.
13:18And this is surpassed only by the United States
13:20and Yemen, which is, of course, in a civil war.
13:24How does this dangerous legacy influence society?
13:29And are you at odds with the rest of Europe on this?
13:34No, this is a great question.
13:36And this is what we were targeting this year, actually.
13:40So it's the newest measures that we've actually had
13:44thousands of pieces of weapons of the people
13:47voluntarily returning.
13:49We have increased the penalties
13:50for holding weapons without the proper permits.
13:57We have made the permitting system very, very strict.
14:01So I think the number that you just took
14:04is probably from maybe three or four years ago.
14:08As of now, the number is at least at half of that.
14:11So because of the really swift action
14:15we've taken in the last couple of years.
14:18So I think definitely this is,
14:21there are some of the remnants of the past,
14:24but we are overcoming this.
14:26Another remnant of the past is travel of Russians to Europe.
14:32The EU has restricted visa travel from Russians to the EU.
14:38What about Montenegro?
14:39There are a lot of Russians who own property in Montenegro.
14:43There are a lot of Russians coming and visit.
14:46What's going to happen once you're a member of the club?
14:51We follow the European common foreign security policy
14:56to the 100% extent.
14:59So as you have seen,
15:00and it's not only the current government.
15:02It's been like the last five governments or something
15:05for 13 years.
15:08And this is something that Montenegro is proud of
15:14and that we are constructive.
15:15Even before having membership status and membership benefits,
15:20we behave as a member state.
15:23So we will fully align with the visa policies of the European Union
15:28and there's absolutely nothing, you know.
15:32Obviously, you know, we are a tourist country primarily,
15:35so we are trying to get as many tourists from all kinds of places.
15:38The Russian tourists are actually not as numerous
15:42as they used to be before.
15:44The real estate holding that was maybe some 15, 20 years ago
15:48was way higher.
15:49Now the Russians are just like one of the groups,
15:53including Germans, Italians, Serbs, Bosniaks, Albanians,
15:57and the other foreigners who are holding the real estate assets
16:01in Montenegro.
16:02So it's much more diversified now.
16:04And, you know, we are not too worried about the trends.
16:09But obviously, as a tourist country,
16:13we are trying to have this policy.
16:19We are trying to have this policy,
16:20but of the as easy travel to Montenegro as possible.
16:25That said, we will fully align with all the visa policies
16:29of the European Union very soon.
16:31I have a personal question, if I may.
16:33Please.
16:34When you were, I was tempted to say young, but you are young,
16:38when you were younger, you studied in Japan and China.
16:42I did.
16:42I wonder how that experience has shaped your thinking.
16:48You know, this is a question I don't get to be asked actually a lot,
16:52so thanks for that.
16:55You know, I studied undergrad in Japan for five years.
16:59And I was under the Japanese government scholarship called Monbu Kagakusho.
17:04And it was at the time when Japan was like the second largest economy in the world
17:09and Japan was a very, very significant partner to the United States and to Europe.
17:15And this is actually something that I would like to work on politically as well,
17:18to be sort of a bridge between Japan and European Union in the future, amongst other things.
17:23I forgot to say that because of this cultural and other ties that I have with Japan.
17:31And, you know, I feel it's my, I can easily say, my second home.
17:35And I have a lot of friends in Japan.
17:38And I stayed there for five years.
17:40I was actually, and I was on an exchange in Tsinghua University in Beijing on learning Chinese language.
17:46So that's another, it was another blessing that I had from Asia.
17:52I lived afterwards in Singapore for six years, combining the, you know, Mandarin language, Japanese language skills
17:58and understanding of the broader Asia-Pacific region as a distress credit analyst at Goldman Sachs.
18:05So these are all experiences that actually helped me in the job that I'm doing now
18:10and things that actually I didn't believe would be useful to a politician.
18:15And if somebody asked me at six or seven years, would you be a politician and being in the role that I'm doing now,
18:21I wouldn't be able to say that I would believe that the person.
18:26I would think he's crazy or something because I'm an introvert, you know, personally.
18:31I'm not really a classical politician.
18:34I'm not a classical politician.
18:36But that said, that said, I think the patience, that is maybe not characteristic for somebody my age,
18:45mixed with the passion and mixed with the resolution.
18:51In Japan, they say kodavari is like the focus on the goal and focus on what you want to achieve.
18:56But at the same time, strategic patience and also there is this concept called ba concept in Japan,
19:03which I think we should have more in Europe and in Balkans for sure,
19:11but in Western cultures in general.
19:14So, you know, there is, you should have your opinion, your contribution to the table.
19:21But at the same time, your contribution, your addition to the table shouldn't be detrimental to the harmony of the table.
19:29So, while giving your addition and your card, your, you know, your cherry on top of the cake,
19:38you shouldn't destroy the cake.
19:40And this is something that I think we can definitely learn from the Japanese
19:44and we can learn from the Eastern cultures.
19:46And on that note, Loiko Spajic, Prime Minister of Montenegro,
19:50thank you so much for coming on today.
19:52Great conversation.
19:53Thank you very much for calling me in.
19:59Thank you.
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