The European Union and Montenegro have provisionally closed negotiations on two more accession chapters, taking the Balkan country past two-thirds of the way through its membership talks.

At the 30th Accession Conference in Brussels on 6 November, the two sides closed chapter 1, on the free movement of goods, and chapter 12, on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary policy. Montenegro has now provisionally closed 23 of its 33 negotiating chapters, having opened all of them.

A frontrunner for membership

Montenegro is widely seen as the frontrunner among the EU's enlargement candidates. The European Commission's enlargement assessment this week placed the country ahead of the field, and its roadmap envisages the remaining chapters being closed by the end of December, with a draft accession treaty finalised in spring 2027 and signed in June 2027.

Ireland's European affairs minister Thomas Byrne, chairing the conference under the Irish presidency of the Council, said Montenegro remained on track to close all chapters by the end of the year. The Montenegrin government aims for EU membership in 2028, which would make it the Union's 28th member.

What comes next

The previous accession conference, on 12 October, closed chapters on economic and monetary policy, statistics, and social policy and employment. The Commission's indicative schedule lists energy, transport and taxation among the chapters still to be closed in November, with the rest, including judiciary and justice chapters, due in December.

The pace will depend on Montenegro continuing to meet the conditions set by member states, and on agreement over a financial package and institutional arrangements. For now, officials on both sides say the goal of concluding the technical negotiations during the Irish presidency, which ends on 31 December, is in sight.

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