Finland fully supports Montenegro on its path to full membership in the European Union, said the speaker of the parliament of that country, Jusi Hala-aho.

The President of the Assembly Andrija Mandić hosted a formal reception in the Montenegrin Parliament today for his Finnish colleague, who is on his first official visit to Montenegro at the invitation of Mandić. After the presentation of the delegations, Mandić and Hala-aho held a tête-à-tête conversation.

Mandić expressed his satisfaction with the first official visit of the President of the Finnish Parliament to Montenegro, adding that it is extremely important to build bilateral relations at all levels.

“I especially want to thank Finland for the strong support shown to us on our European journey and their very clear position that EU candidates should be approached based on their merits and the results they have achieved," Mandic said.

Our country has an ambitious plan to close 4 negotiation chapters by the end of the year, namely: 7 (Intellectual Property Law), 10 (Information Society and Media), 20 (Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy), 31 (Foreign, Security and Defense politics), and to close all remaining chapters by the end of 2026.

We belong to the family of European nations, and I clearly communicated the message that I conveyed these days in Rome and at other addresses that Montenegro wants to enter the EU upright, not on its knees, nor crawling, because we hold on to our values just like the Finns they stick to theirs. We want to be an equal factor in the community of European nations, because we are Europe”, - said Mandić.