It's official: Montenegro is joining the EU; Accession date revealed

Jutarnji list reports that it has obtained a draft of the document, which is due to be adopted on Wednesday at a meeting of the European Commission's College of Commissioners.

According to the European Commission's plan, Montenegro is expected to close all remaining negotiating chapters by the end of this year.

Six chapters are expected to be closed in November and the remaining six in December, with work on drafting the EU accession treaty expected to be completed in spring 2027.

June is therefore being cited as the indicative deadline for signing the accession treaty.

By that time, the treaty should have been approved by all 27 EU member states and Montenegro. It should also be translated into all official EU languages and Montenegrin.

The European Commission would then be expected to confirm Montenegro's readiness for membership, while the European Parliament would have to give its consent.

The Commission includes a disclaimer in the document, noting that this indicative timeline does not prejudge the final outcome, the pace of negotiations or any decisions by the Council, the Commission or the European Parliament.

The European Commission will continue to monitor how Montenegro fulfils the required conditions even after the accession negotiations have been concluded.

This year's progress report is also expected to be the final report on Montenegro, as future assessments, until the country becomes a member, will take the form of a "monitoring report", provided that negotiations have been concluded.

In the event of serious backsliding by Montenegro, the postponement of its accession could also be used as a measure of last resort.

In addition to Montenegro, the European Commission will publish guidelines tomorrow outlining timelines for Albania, Moldova and Ukraine.

However, the Commission describes the target dates for concluding negotiations in their cases as "their ambition". Albania, which has made the most progress after Montenegro, still needs to close as many as 31 negotiating chapters, meaning that its goal of concluding accession negotiations by the end of next year appears overly ambitious to many EU diplomats.