Thewesternbalkans
Following an information from the Service of External Action of the European Union, the fifteenth meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro at Ministerial level was held on 29 of January in Brussels.
The European Union delegation was led by Ms Hadja Lahbib, Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs, on behalf of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with participation of High Representative Josep Borrell and Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi. The Montenegrin delegation was led by Mr Milojko Spajić, Prime Minister of Montenegro.
The meeting served to deepen the political dialogue between the EU member states and Montenegro, with a focus on the reforms that Montenegro needs to deliver to advance in its EU accession process.
Montenegro needs to progress on its accession path and the EU welcomes the commitment of the new government to undertake the necessary reforms. The EU stands ready to assist the country in this endeavour.
All 33 screened chapters in Montenegro’s EU accession negotiations have been opened and 3 have been provisionally closed.
The EU welcomed Montenegro’s efforts, including latest positive steps taken by the newly formed Montenegrin government, and its ambition to meet the rule of law interim benchmarks.
The EU also highly welcomed the fact that Montenegro has fully aligned with the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy decisions and declarations, including restrictive measures, and encouraged Montenegro to continue to do so.
The EU reiterated that the ultimate priority for continued progress towards EU accession remains the fulfilment of the rule of law interim benchmarks set under chapters 23 and 24. This is a condition for the provisional closure of further chapters. Montenegro needs in particular to address remaining gaps in the areas of the fight against corruption and organised crime, freedom of expression and media freedom, and to resume, continue, accelerate and deepen reforms on the independence, professionalism and accountability of the judiciary.
The EU noted that the advancement of the negotiations will continue to be guided by Montenegro’s progress in preparing for accession, as established in the Negotiation Framework.
In the margins of the 15th Ministerial Intergovernmental Conference with Montenegro, High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister of Montenegro Milojko Spajić in Brussels. During their meeting, HR/VP Borrell welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to deliver on EU accession related reforms and reiterated the EU’s support to the country in this regard.
HR/VP Borrell and Prime Minister Spajić also discussed issues related to the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). HR/VP Borrell commended Montenegro’s full CFSP alignment, including on EU restrictive measures, demonstrating Montenegro’s clear strategic orientation, which is particularly relevant in light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and underlined the importance of Montenegro remaining firmly on this path.
Recalling the heightened risk of cyber threats in the current geopolitical context, the HR/VP underlined the EU’s renewed commitment to provide Rapid Response assistance to increase Montenegro’s immediate operational capacity to detect, prevent and repel attacks against its digital infrastructures and systems.
Comments: The Intergovernmental Conference on Accession is a routine act, but it is filled with enormous political content. As we can see during the meeting in Brussels, the representatives of the European Union have put on the table increasingly important issues related to the necessary reforms in Montenegro. We see also that the EU is paying particular attention to the geopolitical positioning of the candidate country, and there will certainly be no enlargement until they are convinced in Brussels that Montenegro is entirely in the camp of the West.
At the moment, however, Montenegro remains the country from the Western Balkans with the greatest chance to finish the negotiations first and be the next member of the EU even before 2030.
