Montenegro plans to internally close at least six chapters in negotiations with the European Union (EU) by the end of the year, announced Minister of European Affairs Maida Gorčević.
At a consultative hearing before the parliamentary Committee on European Integration, she recalled the current administration's goal to close all negotiation chapters by the end of 2026.
"Our plan is to internally close at least six negotiation chapters by the end of this year," Gorčević said, noting that the assessment of this internal readiness depends not only on the European Commission (EC), but also on the member states.
As she explained, these are Chapters 3 - Right to Establish a Company and Freedom to Provide Services, 4 - Free Movement of Capital, 5 - Public Procurement, 6 - Commercial Law, 11 - Agriculture and Rural Development and Chapter 13 - Fisheries.
"We will certainly work on a larger number of chapters to close, because with this dynamics it means that 2026 will be the year in which we will officially close almost 20 negotiation chapters at the Intergovernmental Conferences between the EC and Montenegro," Gorčević stated.
She said that at this moment, three negotiation chapters are internally ready to be closed – 31 - Foreign, Security and Defense Policy, 4 - Free Movement of Capital, 5 - Public Procurement.
Gorčević said that all necessary documentation regarding Chapter 4 has been sent to the EC and that it is now up to the Commission to assess whether Montenegro has met all the final benchmarks, for the Montenegrin administration to answer additional questions, and then to agree on a time when that chapter will be closed.
"At this moment, we have no feedback regarding Chapter 4, whether it will be closed in June or whether we will wait until the second half of the year," Gorčević added.
When it comes to Chapter 5 - Public Procurement, Gorčević said that all final benchmarks and obligations have been met and that she believes there is room for the Intergovernmental Conference to be held in June, when that chapter would be closed.
"We are still waiting for feedback from the EC and the member states, but there is currently optimism that this chapter can be closed already during the Polish presidency," said Gorčević.
She recalled that Chapter 31 was internally ready for closure in December, but that, due to communication with Croatia on bilateral issues, that chapter will be closed at one of the next Intergovernmental Conferences.
"For now, we are satisfied with the dynamics of the negotiations with Croatia, which we will inform you about later," said Gorčević.
When it comes to the remaining chapters, Gorčević said that it is necessary to adopt around 20 laws by June, which are also the final benchmarks, and added that the Government will send everything to parliament in May.
"Then it is our obligation to send all documentation and final reports to the EC during July, which means that there is enough space left so that we can talk about closing the chapter during the Danish presidency by the end of the year," said Gorčević.
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