Montenegro expects to join the EU by the end of 2028

Montenegro's Ambassador to the EU, Petar Markovic, called the goal of becoming the 28th EU member state by the end of 2028 'highly realistic'. He named two main obstacles: constitutional amendments and resolving disputes with Croatia.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 3 November 2026 at 13:121 min read

The key facts

Montenegro's Ambassador to the EU, Petar Markovic, called the goal of joining the EU by the end of 2028 'highly realistic'.
He called Montenegro the 'frontrunner' among the EU candidate countries.
Main obstacles: constitutional amendments and disputes with Croatia stemming from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

Plans and timeline for accession

Montenegro expects to become the 28th member state of the European Union by the end of 2028, and this goal is 'highly realistic' both by Podgorica's own standards and by the criteria of the 27 EU member states and the European Commission. This was stated by Montenegro's Ambassador to the EU, Petar Markovic in an interview with Euronews. According to him, the country is the 'frontrunner' among the candidate states seeking to join the union.

Remaining obstacles

Markovic named two main obstacles on the country's path to the EU. The first is amending the Constitution of Montenegro. The second is resolving disputes with its neighboring EU member state, Croatia, primarily on issues stemming from the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

A long road to membership

Montenegro applied for EU membership in 2008, two years after declaring independence, and accession negotiations began in 2012 — more than 14 years ago. Thus, the stated 2028 timeline would mean the possible completion of a journey that has already lasted two decades; at the same time, as follows from the ambassador's words, before joining, the country still has to resolve constitutional issues and settle its relations with Croatia.