Visiting Podgorica on Wednesday 14 May as part of his tour of the Western Balkans, the President of the European Council, António Costa, welcomed the progress made by Montenegro in its accession process, highlighting the country’s “ambition”, “focus” and “hard work”.
“Montenegro is one of the finest examples of the EU’s positive enlargement momentum”, he said at a joint press conference with Jakov Milatović, President of the Republic of Montenegro.
“To be the 28th EU Member State by 2028 is a very good slogan, but it could be a better achievement to get there before 2028”, he suggested. Montenegro and Albania are currently the leading candidate countries, with the latter hoping to join the Union by 2030 (see EUROPE 13636/7).
Montenegro closed three additional chapters of the fundamental acquis at an intergovernmental conference last December (see EUROPE 13547/2), which is the first time this has happened in over seven years. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)