Montenegro is on track to join the European Union

Montenegro has a good chance of closing all chapters of its EU accession negotiations by the end of 2026, according to the EU-Montenegro Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee. To this end, it needs a cross-party and broader social dialogue.

The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) and Montenegro held the 19th meeting of the Joint Civil Society Consultative Committee (JCC) at the EESC in Brussels on 27 November 2024. "You have made remarkable progress on your way to EU membership. We are proud that Montenegro is on the right track," said EESC President Oliver Röpke. For her part, Maida Gorčević, Montenegro's Minister for European Affairs, underlined the importance of a united Europe at a time of geopolitical tension in the region. "This year has been crucial for our negotiations. We have met the interim benchmarks set for chapters 23 and 24. We have a clean timeline to close all chapters by 2026," said Ms Gorčević.

The Joint Declaration adopted by consensus at the end of the EU-Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee stated that Commissioner-designate for Enlargement Marta Kos (who will take office on 1 December 2024) has already stated that Montenegro could close the remaining chapters of the negotiations by the end of 2026. “This would mean that Montenegro’s ambitious idea of becoming the 28th EU Member State by 2028 could become a reality, provided that the Montenegrin government and all political actors deliver on necessary reforms” – the statement reads. It stresses that to achieve this, "Montenegro needs political maturity, consensus, and cross-party and broader social dialogue on matters of national interest such as EU-related reforms and should avoid the political tension and polarization that have delayed progress in the past.”

During the discussion, Decebal-Ștefăniță Padure, Co-Chair of the EU-Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee, stressed that while welcoming the positive signals from the European Commission,- given the history of more than 20 years of talks with the EU - the authorities and civil society should apply the principle of 'festina lente' (hurry up slowly), i.e. - in addition to pushing forward negotiations with the EU they should carefully prepare the lasting reforms that Montenegro needs. Mr Padure urged the European Commission to consider bundling Brussels' demands for constitutional change into a single package, so that only one amendment to the constitution.

For his part, Jiri Plecity of the Commission's DG NEAR stressed that Montenegro must, among other things, intensify its efforts on the green transition and the EU's environmental requirements. Andrej Zorko, President of the EESC's Western Balkans Follow-up Committee, called on the EU Council to consider using qualified majority voting (QMV) instead of unanimity of all 27 EU countries for intermediate stages of accession negotiations. The next meeting of the EU-Montenegro Joint Consultative Committee will be held in Montenegro in the first half of 2025. Its agenda will feature an assessment of the enabling environment for civil society and social dialogue.