Brussels, 16 December 2024
The seventeenth meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro at ministerial level was held today in Brussels.
The European Union delegation was led by Mr Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on behalf of the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the participation of Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. The Montenegrin delegation was led by Mr Milojko Spajić, Prime Minister of Montenegro.
The meeting served to provisionally close negotiations on the following negotiating chapters:
- Chapter 7 – Intellectual property law
- Chapter 10 – Information society and media
- Chapter 20 – Enterprise and industrial policy
This follows the sixteenth meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro on 26 June 2024, where the EU confirmed that Montenegro has, overall, met the interim benchmarks set for the rule of law chapters (Chapters 23 and 24), paving the way for the country to start the process of closing chapters in the accession negotiations.
Montenegro has been waiting for EU membership for 16 years, with all chapters opened but no chapters closed in the past seven years. Under the Hungarian presidency, we have now successfully closed three negotiation chapters, marking a significant step forward in Montenegro’s accession process.
Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, on behalf of the Hungarian EU Presidency
Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis will continue throughout the negotiations.
The EU will, if necessary, return to these chapters at an appropriate moment.
Background
Currently, 33 chapters in Montenegro’s EU accession negotiations have been opened. With the provisional closure of three chapters today, a total of six negotiating chapters have been provisionally closed.
According to the negotiating principles endorsed by the Accession Conference, agreements reached in the course of negotiations on specific chapters, even partial ones, may not be considered as final until an overall agreement has been reached for all chapters.