The European Union and Montenegro have provisionally closed accession negotiations on economic and monetary policy, Chapter 17; statistics, Chapter 18; and social policy and employment, Chapter 19.
European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said that reforms under the three provisionally closed chapters would bring tangible benefits to Montenegro. Kos also stressed that another negotiating chapter with Albania would be closed on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said that the closure of the three chapters had established a clear framework for economic and monetary stability.
“I am proud that at the second Intergovernmental Conference with Montenegro, held under the Irish Presidency, we provisionally closed three more negotiating chapters. With 21 negotiating chapters now provisionally closed, Montenegro is making steady progress towards closing all remaining chapters. Enlargement is a geopolitical necessity for the EU and remains a key priority of the Irish Presidency,” said Thomas Byrne, Ireland’s Minister of State for European Affairs and Defence, speaking on behalf of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
These provisional closures follow the previous accession conference held on July 14, 2026, when Chapter 8 on competition policy and Chapter 29 on the customs union were provisionally closed.
Monitoring of progress in aligning with and implementing the EU acquis will continue throughout the negotiations.
Montenegro has opened all 33 negotiating chapters in its EU accession negotiations. With the latest closures, a total of 21 chapters have now been provisionally closed.
Under the negotiating principles adopted by the Accession Conference, agreements reached during negotiations on individual chapters cannot be considered final until an overall agreement has been reached on all chapters.
The EU may, if necessary, return to these chapters at an appropriate stage.
“Last night, Montenegro closed three more negotiating chapters. Today, we will close one chapter with Albania and open two negotiating clusters each with Ukraine and Moldova.
As the enlargement process accelerates, we will discuss with our member states how to ensure that our Union becomes stronger as it grows. This is why we have proposed stronger safeguards to uphold the rule of law and reforms to make the Union more efficient.
Today, we will also welcome candidate countries to the European Centre for Democratic Resilience. Many candidate countries have faced hybrid threats for years. Their experience can help us protect democracy across Europe,” Kos said.
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