Montenegro may become a member of the European Union in 2028
Kyiv • UNN
Montenegro may join the EU in 2028 if it signs the treaty in June 2027. Croatia's demands could be an obstacle.
Montenegro may join the European Union in 2028. At the current pace of negotiations, the country will be ready to sign an accession treaty as early as June 2027. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said this during a presentation of the European Commission’s report on EU candidate countries, UNN writes.
Details
According to Kos, after the treaty is signed, all EU member states will have to approve Montenegro’s accession.
Among other countries that may join the bloc, she named Albania, Moldova, and Ukraine. In the European Commissioner’s assessment, these states have convincing prospects of accession, although the European Commission’s report did not set specific timelines.
At the same time, the progress of the candidate countries differs. North Macedonia has achieved some success, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have made limited progress, while Serbia, Georgia, and Türkiye have moved further away from membership in certain respects.
The European Commission also said that Moldova’s accession process would no longer be linked to Ukraine’s European integration. Previously, some EU states had advocated the simultaneous accession of the two countries. However, Ukraine’s pace of implementing European reforms slowed this year, in particular because of the intensification of Russian aggression.
"This is a merit-based process," Marta Kos emphasized.
Obstacles on Montenegro’s path to the EU
One of the obstacles to Montenegro’s accession could be its relations with Croatia—the only neighboring country that is a member of the European Union.
The countries were in conflict during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. At that time, Montenegrin volunteers occupied the southern part of Croatia and took part in the siege of Dubrovnik.
Croatia handed Montenegro a list of conditions for completing the accession negotiations, most of which concern events from that period.
Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milojko Spajić called these requirements achievable and said that the process demonstrates the possibility of reconciliation in the region.
European Commissioner Marta Kos also acknowledged that the negotiations were difficult but emphasized that they were moving in the right direction.
At the same time, a future treaty on Montenegro’s accession may provide for certain safeguards, including restrictions on the right of veto. This is linked to concerns that EU enlargement could make it more difficult to adopt joint decisions, many of which require the unanimous support of all member states.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said that attitudes toward enlargement in the European Union had become more positive and that institutional readiness to accept new members had increased. He also reaffirmed support for the accession of candidate countries based on each of their individual achievements.