Montenegro Could Join the EU in 2028, European Commission Report Says

The European Commission (EC), the EU's executive body, said in a report published on Wednesday that Montenegro could conclude its European Union (EU) accession negotiations this year. In that case, the Balkan country could become a member of the bloc in 2028. The report also reviewed the progress of Moldova and Ukraine, showing how far the EU's candidate countries have come.

Montenegro leads the candidates

Montenegro is the frontrunner among the nine EU candidate countries. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos said the country is very close to completing the talks. Still, it has several reforms left to carry out, particularly in fundamental rights and financial services.

If negotiations are completed by the end of 2026, an accession treaty could be signed next year. It would then have to be ratified by all 27 current member states, which could allow Montenegro to join in 2028. The outcome ultimately depends on approval from existing members. The last country to join the EU was Croatia, in 2013.

Moldova

The Commission says Moldova continues to make steady progress. In its view, the country has met the conditions to open all remaining negotiating clusters. Moldova has aligned its legislation more closely with the EU in all areas, made further progress on key rule-of-law reforms and achieved very significant progress toward meeting the interim benchmarks of the fundamentals cluster. To finish talks by early 2028, Moldova must maintain its current pace of reform.

Ukraine

Ukraine remains determined to move toward membership despite the challenges caused by Russia's war of aggression, and has opened four negotiating clusters over the past year. The EC also considers that it has met the conditions to open all remaining clusters. Its anti-corruption framework remains effective, and the specialised anti-corruption bodies generally continue to operate independently.

Attention should now turn to the rule-of-law interim benchmarks, the implementation of roadmaps on the rule of law, democratic institutions and public administration reform, and the action plan on national minorities. The EC stresses that Ukraine must speed up reforms to complete the talks by the end of 2028.

Accession negotiations are a lengthy process in which candidate countries must align their national laws and standards with EU requirements.