Montenegro to join EU by 2028 'very realistic', says Podgorica's representative

Montenegro wants to become the European Union's next success story. After years of negotiations, Podgorica is presenting itself as the front-runner among the Western Balkan candidates. But the final stretch may prove the hardest. Judicial independence, corruption and the rule of law remain key tests. And questions remain about whether the EU itself is politically ready to welcome new members. To go deeper into this topic, I'm now joined in our studio by Montenegro's ambassador to the European Union, Peter Markovic. Good morning and welcome. Good morning. Thank you for having me. So Montenegro has repeatedly presented itself as the frontrunner in the EU enlargement process. Why should people believe that this time membership is just around the corner? Well, because it's not Montenegro presenting itself as a frontrunner, it's the European Commission, and just in the last year, 14 times, all EU member states agreed with the Commission that we are the frontrunner, because that's how many chapters we closed between the last report and the incoming one. One coming, well... ...being published tomorrow, so that means that the all EU 27 member states and the institutions of the EU repeatedly claim Montenegro is the frontrunner, and we indeed are, because we have been working round the clock... For years now, and this summer, we didn't even have a summer break. We were really working around the clock to fulfill 150 deliverables in the rule of law area. So when you say it's now the test of fighting corruption and boostering our rule of law, this is not now the test. This test has been passed. We have forwarded to the commission the reports. Claiming and showing evidence by evidence that we have fulfilled these 150... You have set 2028, that's not that far away, as your target for EU accession. Now, is this still... A realistic deadline or has it become a political slogan? No, not at all. It's very much realistic. Just a few weeks ago the President of the Commission, Madame von der Leyen, was in Podgorica and she said we believe in Montenegro becoming the 28th member by the end of 2028. So it is on track not just by Montenegro's standards but by those who Who actually are deciding. What are the, you know, two or three biggest obstacles Montenegro still needs to overcome before it can close the accession process? So, but there is now an ongoing process to amend our constitution for the second time in just a few months as part of the obligations in chapter 23 on judiciary and justice. It is a process which is lengthy because our constitution cannot be changed at once. It's a three-pronged process and we are now halfway through it and we expect to do it within this month. So this is the biggest domestic obstacle we are facing. We are also facing the intensified talks with our closest EU member state and neighbor Croatia to resolve some open questions of mutual interest, which we are confident will be done satisfactorily for both sides. Also, record quickly in order for the process to not stall. And how much of the remaining work is in Montenegro's hands and how much depends on decisions made in Brussels and in EU capitals? So there's 33 negotiated chapters at this point. We have submitted all the reports and done all the homework testifying that we have not only adopted legislation but employed people, changed things on the ground. All this has been done some 10 days ago. So Montenegro has finished its homework. At this stage of our accession saga, and it's really in the hands of the EU member states now. Yeah, it is a saga. When did it first start? We applied for, well, the negotiations really started in 2012. And I might remind your viewers that we are the only member states among 10 of them now, candidate countries, that has had to negotiate to open each chapter separately before the French new methodology. New methodology, so we have done the A double work compared to other candidates. All right, Peter Markovic, Montenegro's ambassador to the European Union. Thank you so much for coming on this morning.