Montenegro has got very ambitious plans for the period of Austrian Presidency of the EU, said the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Duško Marković this morning in Vienna, after the meeting of the leaders of the Western Balkans with the Austrian federal chancellor Sebastian Kurz and EU Commissionaires, Johannes Hahn and Maria Gabriel.

“We base our optimism on the most recent document of the EC referring to the rule of law, which indicates a balanced and, therefore, real picture of the efforts that Montenegro is constantly putting into the implementation of reforms within the negotiation process. I am sure that Austria and EU countries will evaluate objectively our results”, said the Prime Minister.

The meeting was inspiring and positive.

“What was important for us is that we hear the plans of Austria in the upcoming presidency, but we also wanted to present ours”, said Marković.

Hahn confirmed that one of the EU priorities is enlargement to the Western Balkans. Gabriel said to the leaders of WB countries that they can always count on the support of EU and that the EU will keep investing in talented people of the region. Kurz said that Austria has three focus points when it comes to the WB countries.

“Western Balkans region journey towards the EU, necessary regional cooperation, settlement of bilateral conflicts in the region”, said the Austrian Chancellor.

Presidents of governments of all WB countries said that it’s very important that Austria insists on enlargement. Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, said that the region is faced with the challenges in cooperation, whereas the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Ramuš Haradinaj, said that his country met all the requirements needed for the abolition of visas.