​​​​​On 31 May, as part of the Enlargement day, the CoR/Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) met in Brussels under the chairmanship of Cllr. Hughie McGrath (Tipperary Council, Ireland) and Aleksandar Bogdanović, Mayor of Cetinje.

In the presence of the Ambassador of Montenegro to the EU, Mr Bojan Šarkić, Cllr McGrath congratulated Montenegro for its imminent membership to NATO and for all the progress made in the negotiations towards EU accession since the last meeting.

The Ambassador Šarkić and participants called for a greater involvement of LRAs in the reforms as more than two thirds of legislation have to be implemented at the local level. They also welcomed the recent approval by the Montenegrin Parliament of legislation that will allow local authorities to receive financial help to pre-finance EU projects.

During the meeting, best practices of sustainable urban development projects were also showcased. In this respect, Cllr McGrath recalled that sustainability of towns very much depends on their capacity to link people and communities. We see more and more town centres losing their identity and economic activities as a result of the development of e-commerce. If we are to keep our towns sustainable and alive, we will have to think about new and innovative approaches to the regeneration of towns and cities.

The next meeting of the JCC will be held in the Montenegrin city of Danilovgrad in the end of September upon the invitation of Mayor Branislav Djuranović.