EU risks ‘losing credibility’ if it fails to enlarge, Montenegro’s deputy PM warns

The European Union will pay a “huge” geopolitical cost and “lose credibility" if it fails to enlarge, Montenegro’s Deputy Prime Minister Filip Ivanović has told Euronews.

Speaking in a one-on-one interview during Euronews’ enlargement summit in Brussels on Tuesday, Ivanović said: “If enlargement does not happen — not just with Montenegro but also with other candidate countries — then the very concept of the European Union loses its credibility: It's not European, and it's not a union anymore.”

“For us, it will be a devastating situation (...) and it would be a horrible signal to all other candidate countries because then they would understand that whatever they do is in vain,” he added. “And this is something that we cannot accept.”

Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine has injected new energy into the long-dormant process of enlarging the European bloc, as Brussels looks to integrate countries on its eastern and southeastern flank.

Montenegro, the smallest of the nine countries recognised as EU candidate countries, is currently the most advanced in implementing the constitutional, judicial and economic reforms required for Brussels to consider a country ready to join.

Ivanović reiterated his government’s aim to wrap up accession talks in 2026, paving the way to officially join by January 2028. “This is why we are saying 28 by 28: so 28 member states by 2028,” he explained.

He spoke hours after the European Commission released its annual report on the progress of candidate countries in implementing their reforms, in which it described Montenegro as on track to meet its milestones if it maintains “the pace of reforms.”

Montenegro aiming for ‘fully-fledged’ membership

The process of enlarging the EU, while highly technical, also requires the unanimous backing of all member states at multiple stages in the process.

Ukraine’s application is currently held up by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who in recent years has been wielding his veto power to block several EU foreign policy decisions. It has raised questions about how the bloc’s decision-making processes can survive in an enlarged Union of as many as 30 or more countries.

EU officials in Brussels have been floating the possibility of accepting new members without giving them full voting rights. Asked about that prospect, Ivanović said: “What we are aiming at is full-fledged membership.”

“I do understand where these concerns come from. But Montenegro has been for years aligned, 100% aligned, with the EU's common foreign and security policy.”

A risk that new members could roll back on fundamental EU values such as the rule of law, media freedom and the respect for human rights has also prompted officials to mull the prospect of putting new countries on a probation period before fully confirming their membership.

“We've been on trial for the past 13 years, and we'll be on trial until we close all negotiation chapters,” Ivanović responded when asked about the potential of probation.

“So once we close the negotiation chapters, as far as I'm concerned, the trial is over.”