The European Union and Montenegro have provisionally closed negotiations on Chapter 5, covering public procurement, in the country’s EU accession process, marking a key step in its path towards membership, the EU Council announced on Saturday.
The decision was taken during the 23rd meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro, bringing the total number of provisionally closed chapters to seven out of 33 opened so far.
“This is a meaningful step forward on Montenegro’s path towards European integration,” said Adam Szłapka, Poland’s Minister for European Affairs, speaking on behalf of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The EU noted that monitoring of Montenegro’s alignment with the EU acquis and the implementation of reforms would continue throughout the negotiation process. Under EU rules, no chapter is considered fully closed until all accession negotiations are completed.
The chapter closure follows the previous Accession Conference with Montenegro held in December 2024, during which chapters on intellectual property (Chapter 7), information society and media (Chapter 10), and enterprise and industrial policy (Chapter 20) were also provisionally closed.
The EU delegation was led by Poland’s Permanent Representative to the EU, Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol, with the participation of Gert Jan Koopman, Director General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood. Montenegro was represented by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
The EU reiterated that it reserves the right to revisit any chapter, if necessary, before the final conclusion of negotiations.