The Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) between the Committee of the Regions (CoR) and Montenegrin local authorities held its second meeting in Podgorica, Montenegro, on 4 June 2013. The meeting focused on two key issues faced by Montenegro's local authorities in the country's course towards EU integration: absorption capacity of EU Pre-Accession funds and waste management. The JCC aims at contributing to the EU enlargement process through a large-scale involvement of Montenegro's local authorities.

 

Stanisław Szwabski (PL/EA), Chairman of Gdynia City Council and co-chair of the JCC, spoke in his opening intervention of the need to maintain the credibility and the

sincere nature of the enlargement process, which would require the essential involvement of citizens in the candidate countries. Mr Szwabski underlined that the JCC could help Montenegrin locally elected representatives in their task of communicating the EU to the citizens.