The Montenegrin Deputy Prime Minister battling for transparency

Unreported Europe
Unreported Europe Copyright euronews
By Hans von der Brelie
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"We want to be part of the EU and we want a strong partnership" - Dritan Abazović, the Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, explains how the country can live up to EU norms and fight for transparency to become an EU member state.

Montenegro has been thrown into the spotlight for all the bad reasons in the last few years due to an ill-fated motorway project. In 2014, China loaned the Western Balkan state a billion-dollar loan to start building a road that would effectively cross the country. The idea behind this was a noble one: to boost the economy and create more jobs. However, the Chinese contractors building the motorway have not completed the work, there are no finances left to complete the work and the economy has been anything but boosted. Montenegrins are blaming this on government corruption and mishandling.

Dritan Abazović, the young Deputy Prime Minister of Montenegro, is known as a fighter for transparency and he is also pro-EU. He wants the country to become an EU member state and he thinks they have what it takes to do so. In an exclusive interview with Euronews, he tells us about the motorway project, transparency, rule of law and EU-Montenegrin relations.

To watch the full interview with Dritan Abazović, click on the media player above.

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