Summary: 

The project is aimed to assist, advise and support Montenegrin EU accession negotiations through strengthening the capacities of the newly established Office for European Integration (OEI). In addition, the project is focused on enhancing capacities of the General Secretariat of the Government to fulfil new responsibilities for coordination and monitoring of public policies. The aim is to enhance compliance and implementation of policies, and to improve internal and external government coordination in relation to accession priorities. The project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UNDP in partnership with the OEI and General Secretariat of the Government.

Objectives:

Objective of the project is to strengthen capacities to coordinate and lead the overall EU accession process, as well as to ensure better coherence between a number of parallel processes relevant for the EU integration. The project will focus on: strengthening the internal administrative capacities to improve negotiation aptitudes and routine government business; enhancing coordination with other line ministries; establishing efficient public policy coordination as well as supporting the Government in effective implementation of the Acquis.

Activities:

The project activities would be primarily focused on strengthening capacities of the Government of Montenegro in coordination of negotiations and policy planning. The technical assistance will be provided to strengthen capacities of the Government of Montenegro to coordinate the process of addressing the chapter benchmarks, with focus on the negotiation Chapters 8, 23, 24 and 27.

Recognizing the importance of building administrative capacities and creating open, efficient and flexible public administration, the project will support the Government to establish a system for efficient strategic planning of public policies, through setting up of a regulatory framework which would define the content and procedure for the preparation of strategic documents establishing public policies, particularly in the sectoral policies important for the process of accession to the EU.

Expected results:

The anticipated results of the project are:

1. Internal (functional and technical) capacities of the OEI and GSG improved, resulting in more efficient performance of these institutions;
2. Capacities of OEI dealing with the EU accession negotiations improved;
3. Improved system for efficient public policy coordination; and
4. Capacities for the implementation of Acquis strengthened.