The European Commission expects a credible, independent and efficient probe in Montenegro into the allegations of corruption in the Mozura wind park case, which the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, had allegedly been investigating, local media outlets reported on Wednesday.
European Commission spokeswoman Ana Pisonero said that the rule of law was one of the fundamental values of the European Union and a decisive element in the EU accession process, including that of Montenegro.
With this in mind, we expect corruption allegations to receive credible, independent and efficient answers from institutions and again we underscore the importance of discussing such matters in democratically elected institutions, Pisonero told the Podgorica-based Vijesti daily newspaper.
Matthew Caruana Galizia, a son of the Maltese journalist, had earlier said in an interview for the Vijesti daily that his mother had been investigating the connections between the then Montenegro Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muskat and the ruling elite in Azerbaijan.
The Montenegrin police have said that if they receive a request from the Maltese police through Interpol and Europol regarding the case of the murder of the Maltese journalist, they will act “promptly and efficiently”.
In June, Montenegrin Parliament Speaker Ivan Brajovic rejected a request by all 39 opposition MPs to add to the agenda the initiative to form a commission of inquiry on the case.
The Mozura wind farm construction scandal had been brought to the forefront at the beginning of the parliamentary election campaign by the URA civic movement whose activists claimed that the Montenegrin government would provide Maltese investors with subsidies worth €115 million and that this would be offset by citizens of Montenegro through increased electricity bills.
The Mozura wind farm was put into operation in November 2019. The investment had been carried out by the Maltese company Enemalta and the Malta Montenegro Wind Park company. The facility was built by Shanghai Electric Power Engineering.
