Brussels – It is the turn of the frontrunner in this EU enlargement super-day, strengthening a process that, step by step, is gaining new momentum on many fronts. After Ukraine’s opening Cluster 6 – ‘External Relations’, Montenegro’s closing another two chapters is the sign that EU accession negotiations are bringing tangible results, with Podgorica pushing hard to meet its 2028 goal.
“Montenegro is a very familiar process and has now closed more than half of the accession chapters,” said Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. At the 28th Accession Conference on 14 July, Chapter 8 (Competition Policy) and Chapter 29 (Customs Union) were provisionally closed, bringing the total number to 18, six of them in 2026.
“We are in the endgame of the negotiations – we are getting ready for Montenegro,” Commissioner Kos continued, outlining both the work required on the EU side – adopting the financial package and drafting the Accession Treaty – and the next steps for Podgorica: “It is time to double down on the final reforms, because we all believe in you and that you will be part of the European Union.”
It was Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajić who provided an overview of Podgorica’s preparedness for completing the negotiations by the end of the year. The remaining 15 chapters “are all at the final stage, at around 90%, with some of them at 100% and already sent to the Commission to be closed,” he confirmed, referring to the work that has continued “for months,” as previously anticipated by Ambassador Petar Marković, Head of Mission of Montenegro to the EU, in an interview with The New Union Post.
The Montenegrin Prime Minister recalled that “this process is not easy, but it is in our hands” and set out a timeframe: “In a month or two, we will finish all the technical work.” Afterwards, “we will go hand in hand with the member states to validate the work and finalise it by the end of the year,” paving the way for the ratification of the Accession Treaty.
Speaking on behalf of the rotating Presidency of the Council – which will be responsible for turning this ambition into reality – Irish Minister of State for European Affairs Thomas Byrne noted that “we are in the final stages of the accession path” and that the next Accession Conference “may be convened in the coming weeks – there is no rest for us.”
With the Ad Hoc Group for Drafting the Accession Treaty “fully operational” and half of the accession path already completed, “we are demonstrating that we are preparing the ground for the accession of a new member, that we are serious and that we keep our promises,” he added.
Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing on the €3.2 billion financial package for Montenegro’s accession proposed by the European Commission, which has set out the estimated amount of EU funding that the prospective new member state would receive under the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – the EU’s seven-year budget – together with the budgetary adjustments required to accommodate its accession.
As the financial package falls under Chapter 33 (Financial and Budgetary Provisions) of the EU accession negotiations, the government in Podgorica is “also preparing the plan for the budget” with a view to EU membership in 2028, Montenegro’s Minister of European Affairs, Maida Gorčević, revealed in an interview with The New Union Post.
Podgorica’s goal remains to submit all the remaining negotiating positions to the Commission and to conclude the accession negotiations by the end of the year. The ultimate objective is to become the 28th EU member state by 2028, “somewhere in the middle” of the year, Gorčević specified.
The state of EU–Montenegro relations
Montenegro submitted its application for EU membership in 2008. Candidate status was granted in June 2010, and accession negotiations began in 2012. To date, all 33 screened negotiating chapters have been opened, and 18 have been provisionally closed.
Moreover, in June 2024, Podgorica received a positive Interim Benchmark Assessment Report (IBAR), indicating that it has met the interim benchmarks in Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) – a prerequisite for closing chapters deemed ready for provisional closure.
On 22 April 2026, the EU ambassadors endorsed the establishment of the Ad Hoc Working Party on Drafting the Accession Treaty, which started working on 13 May. On 30 June, the European Commission presented the proposal for the financial package for Montenegro’s accession, amounting to €3.2 billion.
Montenegro is considered the most advanced country in the EU enlargement process, with the aim of closing all chapters by the end of 2026.
