Montenegro Closes Two More EU Accession Chapters, 23 of 33 Now Done, on Track to Become the Bloc's 28th Member in 2028
Brussels — The Council of the European Union announced on November 6 that the EU and Montenegro, meeting at the 30th Accession Conference in Brussels, provisionally closed negotiations on Chapter 1 (free movement of goods) and Chapter 12 (food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy). Montenegro has now opened all 33 negotiating chapters and provisionally closed 23 of them; it was the third intergovernmental conference for Montenegro held under the Irish presidency of the Council.
The previous accession conference, on October 12, provisionally closed Chapter 17 (economic and monetary policy), Chapter 18 (statistics) and Chapter 19 (social policy and employment). In its annual enlargement report published on November 4, the European Commission said Montenegro's accession negotiations could realistically be closed by the end of 2026 and an accession treaty could be signed as early as June 2027; Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said Montenegro is on track to become the EU's 28th member in 2028.
Montenegro, with a population of about 630,000, is the candidate country closest to membership. Under the Commission's roadmap, the remaining chapters are to be closed by the end of this year, including the rule-of-law chapters 23 (judiciary and fundamental rights) and 24 (justice, freedom and security); reporting also notes that bilateral disputes between Montenegro and Croatia still need to be resolved. All chapter closures remain provisional — under the negotiating rules, nothing is final until everything is agreed — and an accession treaty must still be ratified by all 27 member states. GSM previously reported on the Commission's 2026 enlargement package, which set out accession roadmaps for Montenegro and three other frontrunner candidates. (Source: Council of the European Union)
Related:
EU Publishes 2026 Enlargement Package With Accession Roadmaps for Four Frontrunner Candidates
Source: Council of the European Union
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：黑山首都波德戈里察全景（资料图）。照片：A81t，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: A panorama of Podgorica, capital of Montenegro (file photo). Photo by A81t, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
