The ad hoc working group of the Council of the European Union responsible for drafting the Accession Treaty with Montenegro officially launched its work on Wednesday 13 May, at an initial meeting devoted to organising the work ahead. Experts from EU Member States and representatives of the European Commission took part.
The work will initially focus on the “necessary technical adaptations”, taking into account the evolution of the EU acquis, based on previous accession treaties, the most recent being that with Croatia. According to several European sources consulted by Agence Europe, discussions on the safeguard clauses will only take place at a later stage.
Political discussions on these safeguard mechanisms have not yet begun. They cannot be opened until the summer.
During the last structured dialogue within the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) at the end of April, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, indicated that the new accession treaties should include clear and solid guarantees to avoid any backsliding by the new Member States in terms of the Rule of law, and that Montenegro’s accession treaty “should be the first of a new generation”.
Mrs Kos pointed out that while “safeguard clauses are not new” in the accession treaties - covering transitional phases for the application of EU rules or the benefit of certain rights, such as access to the labour market - “the scale of enlargement, the political context, and the lessons of past accessions oblige us to reflect on the evolution of these instruments”. “Future accession treaties will have to include credible, effective guarantees applicable in the event of serious breaches after accession”, she added, saying that “it is not a question of creating additional criteria”. “But if countries backslide on our fundamental principles, such as democracy and the Rule of law, these guarantees must be applied and we must always be able to protect our Union”, she insisted.
Although the EU Council Presidency and the Council are responsible for drafting the Treaty, the Commission should be called upon extensively to provide input, including on the formulation of safeguard clauses.
According to European sources, work on drafting the treaty is a priori unlikely to be completed by the end of the year.
Montenegro, the most advanced country in EU accession negotiations to date, aims to complete the negotiation process this year and become the 28th Member State of the European Union in 2028.
Marta Kos also confirmed that, if Montenegro pursues the necessary reforms, it could be in a position to conclude the technical part of the negotiations by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)