{"id":494,"date":"2026-02-02T12:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T12:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=494"},"modified":"2026-06-26T09:25:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T09:25:19","slug":"this-year-will-decide-montenegros-accession-to-the-eu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/?p=494","title":{"rendered":"This year will decide Montenegro&#8217;s accession to the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">January 23, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in January 2026, this publication examines Montenegro\u2019s prospects for accession to the European Union. It analyses the key factors likely to influence this accession, including geopolitical developments related to the war in Ukraine, internal debates within the European Union and the positions of the most influential member states. Montenegro is presented as the most advanced candidate country in the Western Balkans and as a test of the credibility of European enlargement policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/montenegro-accession-1024x288.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-495\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/montenegro-accession-1024x288.png 1024w, https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/montenegro-accession-300x85.png 300w, https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/montenegro-accession-768x216.png 768w, https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/montenegro-accession.png 1246w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It emphasises that enlargement no longer depends exclusively on the progress made by candidate countries, but also on the political decisions of the European Union\u2019s member states. In this context, Montenegro must not only complete the required reforms and handle the significant administrative burden associated with closing the negotiation chapters, but also build trust with European countries by demonstrating its \u201cpolitical compatibility with the mature democracies\u201d of the Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its accession is presented as a strong signal to the entire Western Balkans, likely to strengthen the credibility of the European enlargement policy and encourage other candidate states to continue their reforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can read the external publication \u201c<em>This Year Will Decide Montenegro\u2019s Accession to the EU\u201d <\/em>by Nikola Xaviereff, published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in January 2026, <a href=\"https:\/\/dgap.org\/en\/research\/publications\/op-ed-year-will-decide-montenegros-accession-eu\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/dgap.org\/en\/research\/publications\/op-ed-year-will-decide-montenegros-accession-eu\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>January 23, 2026. Published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in January 2026, this publication examines Montenegro\u2019s prospects for accession to the European Union. It analyses the key factors likely to influence this accession, including geopolitical developments related to the war in Ukraine, internal debates within the European Union and the positions of 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23, 2026. Published by the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) in January 2026, this publication examines Montenegro\u2019s prospects for accession to the European Union. It analyses the key factors likely to influence this accession, including geopolitical developments related to the war in Ukraine, internal debates within the European Union and the positions of&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenextmile.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}