“Montenegro is demonstrating in practice that it can fulfil its European obligations and become a credible Member State. We are finalising our reforms in order to close the remaining negotiating chapters by the end of the year. In the first half of next year, during Lithuania’s EU Presidency, we expect the finalisation of the Accession Treaty,” Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević said during her working visit to Lithuania.
In Vilnius, the Minister held meetings with Lithuania’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sigitas Mitkus, and the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee and member of the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas – the Parliament of Lithuania – Remigijus Motuzas.
Gorčević exchanged views with her interlocutors on the final steps Montenegro is taking with the aim of closing all negotiating chapters by the end of the year, as well as on the finalisation of the Accession Treaty and the importance of public support for the accession of new EU Member States.
The Minister said that Montenegro has clearly charted its course towards the EU.
“A lot of work awaits us by the end of the year, and there is no longer any doubt that we will succeed in completing it. Not because of EU membership for its own sake, but because of the transformative power and benefits that membership brings to citizens and society as a whole,” she stressed.
She pointed to the importance of Lithuania’s upcoming Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2027 and expressed the expectation that the country would continue to support Montenegro on the political, technical and institutional levels, particularly towards the signing of the Accession Treaty.
“We do not shy away from additional safeguard mechanisms in the Accession Treaty, provided that they are clearly defined, legally predictable and based on objective criteria. What we insist on is full membership, with the same rights, obligations and vote as every other Member State of the European Union,” Gorčević pointed out.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigitas Mitkus said that Lithuania strongly supports Montenegro’s European aspirations and has repeatedly demonstrated its readiness to share its own experience in the EU integration process. He said that the country had already identified EU enlargement as one of the key priorities of its Presidency, as it views it as an investment in Europe’s future.
Mitkus welcomed Montenegro’s consistent commitment to European values, demonstrated through its full alignment with the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. He also expressed the expectation that work on the draft Accession Treaty would proceed according to the planned timeline, conveying that Lithuania would be ready, during its Presidency of the Council of the EU, to support Montenegro in the next steps, including when the conditions for finalising the Treaty are met.
At the meeting with members of Parliament, Gorčević thanked them for Lithuania’s continued support for Montenegro’s European integration, stressing that the enlargement process contributes to the stability and security of the EU.
She said that Montenegro expects the support of the Member States for the closure of all remaining chapters, the finalisation and signing of the Accession Treaty, and its timely ratification.
“We see Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the EU as an important period in this final phase,” she added.
Members of the Lithuanian Parliament confirmed that Montenegro can count on the strong support of the Seimas in the final stage of its European path, stressing their readiness to contribute through parliamentary cooperation to the process leading to full membership. They particularly emphasised that Lithuania would remain an advocate of results-based enlargement and that they wanted to support Montenegro in the next steps, including the period leading to the signing and ratification of the Accession Treaty.