In 1981, two years after the first direct elections to the European Parliament were held, the legislature inaugurated a "Delegation for relations with the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".
This delegation had a series of successors, each refocused and renamed in response to political changes in the region: the original delegation became the "Delegation for Relations with the Republics of Former Yugoslavia", before being re-baptised the "Delegation for South-East Europe" (abbreviated as DSEE) in 1994.
Separate relations, new structure (2006-2014)
In 2006, the Parliament began to hold separate inter-parliamentary meetings with Montenegro. Between December 2006 and October 2009, four of these meetings were convened.
During this period, relations were "informal" - which is to say that there was no set, inter-parliamentary structure, such as a Parliamentary Committee, to bring together legislators at regular intervals.
Once the EU and Montenegro signed a "Stabilisation and Association Agreement", in 2007, this would change. The agreement, which entered into force in 2010, specified:
"A Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee is hereby established. It shall be a forum for Members of the Parliament of Montenegro and of the European Parliament to meet and exchange views. It shall meet at intervals that it shall itself determine."
The first, constitutive meeting of the SAPC was held in 2010.
After the European Parliament elections of 2014, a separate Delegation to the Committee was formed: the Delegation to the EU-Montenegro Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee (D-ME).
Chairs overseeing relations with Montenegro