Closing five negotiation chapters in the negotiations with the European Union, (EU) Montenegro entered a new accession stage. Official Podgorica expects to close the remaining 22 chapters next year, to meet all the obligations and to be ready for EU membership in 2028.
The Council of the European Union (EU) decided to establish an ad hoc work group for drafting the Accession Treaty with Montenegro.
However, the conclusions on enlargement were adopted as conclusions of the Danish Presidency, since the Member States couldn’t reach consensus.
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Ambassador of the European Union (EU) Johann Sattler, said in an interview to the MINA Agency that the work group would start working in the following six months. Photo: Government of Montenegro
“The Council decided to establish the work group that will work on the accession treaty with Montenegro. So, that is it, it will happen. I expect that, in the next six months, this work group will start working. It is an important task, because all agreements on different chapters must be included in the work of that work group and there is lot to be done. Asked for how long Montenegro might wait for the treaty to be drafted and ready, Sattler repeated that the drafting process would start in the period to come, adding that they had already had conversations with representatives of Cyprus who would take over the presidency in the Council of the EU. |
Asked about the roadmap to membership for Montenegro, rapporteur of the European Parliament for Montenegro, Marjan Šarec, said for Eurokaz that the entire process could be divided in stages.
“We are now approaching the final stage of the negotiations, and the sooner it finishes the better for all of us. When the negotiations finish, we will enter a new stage, and it will contain further challenges. That will be the stage of ratification in Member States, where I expect many holes on the road and many bumps. And also, not much will depend on Montenegro in that stage. It will depend on the opinions in Member States, political developments, elections, etc…. I mean, we will all have to work a lot on that. Of course, there are countries for which you will not even know that they ratified the treaty because they will do it so fast. But there are other countries where not everything will be easy. That is reality and it is not good to try to close our eyes to it and we will not. Because citizens of Montenegro must know that EU is often far from being an ideal creation, but it is still better than everything else,” says Šarec.
Asked how difficult it would be for Montenegro to close about 20 chapters next year, Šarec responded that it seemed to be pretty demanding because the deadline was very short.
“I have had a large number of meetings in Brussels recently with the officials from Montenegro. I had very good meetings with the ministers and with the Prime Minister Milojko Spajić. I must underline that we discussed many issues and difficulties that are on your path. But the impressions that I had got confirmed – there is much willingness and awareness of the situation in Montenegro. Of course, each person can see problems in different ways, but the overall direction is good. As a former Prime Minister and Minister, I have to emphasize that the job they do is not easy. With the capacities that Montenegro has, the achievements made so far can be described as miraculous. Montenegro’s administration is small in numbers, but people, like the Chief Negotiator and the others, are strongly motivated. They really work hard and I hope they will continue. I hope you don’t mind me joking a bit,,,, Montenegro is not what it used to be… But daily politics is a different story. Botun and similar things are not beneficial. It is indeed not in the interest of Montenegro’s citizens to try getting political points to the detriment of the environment. And there are other cases too. That is why I appeal to all politicians, not to obstruct the European path. The chapter related to the environment is of huge importance”, underlined Šarec.
Asked what the Montenegro’s roadmap to the expected 2028 membership actually looked like, the Chief Negotiator of Montenegro with the EU, Predrag Zenović, explained that, unofficially, the discussions were opened also about chapter 34. Institutions, because it is the chapter that got both opened and closed in the very end.
“The plan is to close all the chapters by the end of next year. In the meantime the work on the accession treaty should be initiated, and everything necessary to start the final political stage has to be prepared”, said Zenović, He said that the enlargement was important for the EU, because it was the fact that for fifteen years the Union had not been enlarged, while the enlargement used to be the strongest foreign policy of the EU, the so called “soft power of the EU”. “The enlargement should be perceived as an opportunity, particularly if you have a candidate like Montenegro, that, in terms of budged or fiscal policy, does not make any significant impact on the EU framework, while it is at the same time under the scrutiny when it comes to the rule of law, and is making progress and has 100% aligned foreign policy”, said Zenović.
He said that the Accession Treaty would be the point of no return for the entire process and a political signal of the Member States that they were ready for the fact that Montenegro was moving in an accelerated manner, i.e. that it was finishing the negotiation process.
Former Minister of European Integration, Gordana Đurović, thinks that Montenegro is on a good path, if the geopolitical and political support that now exists continues, and if Montenegro manages to avoid shooting itself in the foot again as when it failed to elect all judges of the Constitutional Court.
“Montenegro needs to show a bit more of political unity too. The Government and technocratic structures will certainly do their best. Of course, their efforts should be supported by the budget that meets the needs of the closing benchmarks, i.e. the necessary investment”, said Đurović.
She also said that it was not the problem to close all negotiation chapters next year or to do it in the first months of 2027. Đurović said that the issues of meeting the political criteria and ensuring political stability were equally important as closing of the negotiation chapters.
“The decision on initiating drafting of the accession treaty would be a great and symbolic sign that we are nearing the end of the negotiations. The decision of the Council recommending EC to start drafting the Accession Treaty would really make the process much more realistic and alert everyone in the country that door is opened for Montenegro”, said Đurović.
By: Milan Žugić, MINA Agency
This text was published in the 17th issue of Eurokaz magazine.