Montenegro should close four chapters in negotiations with the European Union (EU) by the end of the year, and the rest in the last quarter of 2026, according to the road map drawn up by the European Commission (EC).
The EC made an assessment of the dynamics of closing negotiation chapters with Montenegro by the end of 2026, which the authorities in Podgorica defined as the deadline for concluding negotiations.
In the road map, which the Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) correspondent from Brussels had an insight into, it is planned that by the end of this year, Montenegro will close four negotiation chapters - 7 (Intellectual property rights), 10 (Information society and media), 20 (Entrepreneurship and Industrial Policy), as well as Chapter 31, which refers to Foreign, Security and Defense Policy.
Although Montenegro's ambitions were to end the negotiations in chapter 1 - Freedom of movement of goods by the end of the year, the EC estimates that the chapter could be ready for closure only in the first quarter of 2026, the RTCG portal reports.
For the next year, the plan is to close six negotiation chapters, namely chapter 5 - Public Procurement in the first half of the year, while by the end of 2025, as forecasted, the final criteria could be met in the chapters Right to establish a company and freedom to provide services, Freedom of movement of capital, Commercial law, Agriculture and rural development and Fisheries.
Other negotiation chapters should be closed in 2026, of which the largest number - ten in the last quarter of the year.
However, as stated, the actual situation when it comes to the time frame will depend on the results delivered by Montenegro and the assessments of the member countries and could vary from three to six months.
This assessment does not refer to chapters scheduled for closure at the end of 2026, which is the political deadline for chapter closure set by the Montenegrin administration.
After closing the last chapter, it takes about two more years for the EU countries to ratify the membership decision.
Montenegro's plan is for negotiations in all chapters to be completed by the end of 2026, so that the country could become the 2028th member of the EU in 28.
The European Commission assesses the degree of fulfillment of the criteria for closing the chapter, while the final decision is within the competence of the member states and is made unanimously.
Montenegro has so far closed three chapters, while all other negotiation chapters, 30 of them, are open.
After the Inter-Governmental Meeting held on June 26 in Brussels, where the transitional benchmarks were met in the chapters of justice and fundamental rights (23) and justice, freedom and security (24), Montenegro has no formal obstacles to closing the other negotiation chapters.
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