Podgorica, (MINA) – Press rights and freedoms are of utmost importance for democratic development of every society, said Chief EU Negotiator Predrag Zenovic.

During the consultations with the NGOs representatives on press freedoms, that took place on Tuesday, he said that their goal is to create an ambience that contributes to the development of a democratic society.

“And to have informed citizens, resilient to misinformation”, said Zenovic.

According to the press release from the Ministry of European Affairs, Zenovic remarked that press freedoms are an important part of the chapter 23 and chapter 10.

“Through drafting of the Media Strategy and drafts of three laws, the Law on Audio-Visual Media Services, the Law on Media and the Law on the Public Broadcaster, we took the first, crucial step towards the EU, regarding press freedoms”, Zenovic said.

He, according to the press release, underscored the complex and more difficult part of the work in the field of press freedoms, regarding investigations of threats and violence against journalists, murders of journalists and attacks against media property.

The Ministry stated that the NGO sector representatives were interested in how much progress Montenegro has made in the field of media freedom over the past ten years, since the opening of chapter 10- Information Society and Media.

The meeting participants emphasized that there is still much work to be done in that area, and expressed their belief that passing of the draft media laws, along with institutional improvements and high-quality implementation of regulations, which will involve the civil sector, will lead to the provisional closing of the chapter 10.