At the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat on Friday 5 June, the European Union and its partners in the Western Balkans welcomed a new impetus in the EU enlargement process, largely fuelled by the shared conviction that Montenegro has entered the final phase of its journey towards accession and could become the Union’s 28th Member State in 2028. The meeting was of “particular historical significance”, as Montenegro celebrates the 20th anniversary of its independence from Serbia this year.
“The integration of Montenegro would send a strong signal to all the candidate countries: the European dream is alive and well, hard work is paying off and the enlargement policy remains one of the most successful of the European Union”, said Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović at a joint press conference with the President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
At the end of the Summit, Mr Milatović said that he was “more confident than ever” that the goal of EU membership by 2028 was “entirely achievable”, and promised to “speed up” the remaining reforms, particularly in the area of the Rule of law, while Mrs von der Leyen said that Montenegro’s accession to the EU was now “within reach”.
Referring to the Franco-German initiative to facilitate the gradual integration process (see EUROPE 13881/17), which the Montenegrin President described as “a constructive and creative way of bringing all the candidate countries of the Western Balkans closer to their ultimate goal”, namely EU membership, Mr Milatović nevertheless stressed that “the case of Montenegro is somewhat unique”: it is the “only candidate country” for which work on drafting the EU accession treaty has already begun. In his view, this new approach should not apply to Montenegro.
“The most important thing is that everyone agrees on the need to speed up the enlargement process”, said António Costa, insisting that both the EU and the Western Balkan partners must “work faster and harder”.
“It is very positive that a number of proposals are currently circulating to reduce bureaucracy, or even to create a kind of ‘ enlargement omnibus’, to enable this merit-based process to be completed more quickly”, he added, acknowledging however that this issue is less crucial for the most advanced countries, such as Montenegro.
Ursula von der Leyen also pointed out that all the Member States support a merit-based process. However, she felt that the process “must become more dynamic, because a merit-based process does not mean a slow process”. It must be “fair and predictable”, which implies that, when the partners carry out the reforms requested, the Union must “reward these reforms with real integration, access to our programmes, closer links with the single market, and funding conditional on progress”.
The President of the Commission pointed out that the €6 billion growth plan for the Western Balkans already offers “gradual integration into the single market in various sectors”, provided that the necessary reforms are implemented to guarantee a level playing field, backed up by European investment. “So far, we have already paid €675 million and the next tranche will be €540 million”, she said. She also recalled the EU’s willingness to negotiate with the six partners in the region to integrate them into the European roaming zone, a concrete example of the benefits of integration even before accession.
“We will now examine the various proposals. Their aim is to improve the process, so they are very welcome. This will be discussed”, she explained.
While Montenegro and Albania could join the Union before 2030, Serbia, for example, has not opened any new negotiating chapters since 2021.
“The European Union also wants Serbia to join the EU, but it must meet the necessary criteria”, stressed Mrs von der Leyen, particularly in terms of judicial reform, freedom of the press, electoral reform and alignment with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy.
Mr Costa said that Serbia was committed to finalising its judicial reform in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission “in the coming weeks” and adopting the final electoral reforms needed to meet “all the recommendations” of the OSCE/ODIHR. On the basis of the European Commission’s assessment, the EU Council will then decide “whether or not it is time to open the third group of chapters”.
“For Montenegro, full membership now seems within reach”, said Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker. For the other countries “there may be intermediate steps towards full membership of the European Union, which of course remains the ultimate goal”, he added.
Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Luc Frieden, said he would welcome any initiative to “speed up the process somewhat” and make “the European perspective as concrete as possible”. “We should not be creating waiting rooms where people are forced to wait too long. Above all, we must stick to the enlargement process as agreed”, he insisted.
On her way to a third term in office, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen pointed out that “countries can only be admitted to the European Union when they are ready”. “The more members the Union has, the more we will have to think about new decision-making methods so that no State can block or put pressure on the others to prevent necessary decisions”, she declared, in an allusion to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, together with French President Emmanuel Macron, defended their proposal to “facilitate enlargement, in particular for certain Western Balkan States”, after 13 years without any new members. “I am encouraged by this morning’s discussions, but there is still a long way to go”, said Mr Merz.
For his part, Mr Macron also defended their joint proposal to “strengthen the process of gradual integration”, stressing the strategic importance of enlargement to the Western Balkans: “Because Europe’s independence in terms of energy, security, and migratory routes is also at stake in this region. So it’s very important to be able to move forward”.
Lastly, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković reiterated his country’s “expectations” of Montenegro, after meeting the country’s Croatian minority. “The first expectation is that the camp’s inmates will be compensated”, he said, referring to the Morinj camp during the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. (Original version in French by Ana Pisonero Hernández)