“It’s not the European standard that you basically just sort of raise your hand [and] get the salary,” Milatović told POLITICO, adding that even if the legislation was required to join the EU, lawmakers should still do their due diligence.
“It’s true that Montenegro is effectively outsourcing its democracy to Brussels,” said another European diplomat. “But it has no choice if it wants to join the EU by 2028.”
Despite the pace at which Montenegro is moving, whether it can join by 2028 is a big question mark. Podgorica has 20 of 33 accession chapters left to close and is set to close its next one — Chapter 21, on Trans-European Networks— in March, a Montenegrin official said.
Another four are expected to be closed in June. That would give it six months to achieve its goal of closing the remaining 15 chapters by the end of 2026, at which point all 27 current EU countries — including Hungary — would need to ratify its membership, a lengthy process in itself.
The Commission official affirmed Montenegro’s ambitious membership target is “technically possible,” especially with Podgorica’s firm commitment. “But there is politics and then there is life,” the official said.
Milatović agreed that the task ahead is a big one. “It’s not that easy to finish 20 chapters in the next less than 10 months,” the Montenegrin president said. “And this is where we really need to work even more than what is being done now.”
Nick Vinocur contributed to this report.