BELGRADE, April 17 (Xinhua) -- Montenegro sees the latest European Commission report as a confirmation of the country's leading position in the European integration process in the Western Balkans, deputy prime minister Zoran Pazin said at a presentation of the report here on Tuesday.
The report was handed to Pazin on Tuesday by Aivo Orav, head of the European Union (EU) delegation to Montenegro.
Pazin said Montenegro had made visible achievement, but still needs deep reforms, especially in the area of the rule of law -- "a precondition for progress in all other areas"-- in order to make further progress.
"The report has shown that Montenegro is a leader in the process of European integration. This is an incentive, but also represents a responsibility for the government to continue with credible results and achieve all required standards, thus confirming the opinion of our partners from Brussels," Pazin said in a statement published on the government website.
He added that the report marks progress in judiciary, especially when it comes to investigations directed against money laundering, distribution of narcotics and people trafficking, as well as the reform of public administration, agriculture, rural development and food safety.
Orav said the need for comprehensive reform of the electoral process was underlined in the report, as well as for the higher transparency of the public administration.
"There was a visible progress in the public administration reform, but a strong political will is needed to depoliticize and optimize it," he said.
Orav further reminded that opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) have boycotted the parliament since the parliamentary elections last year and said it was the responsibility of all political stakeholders to "reintroduce debate into the parliament".
