Today, the 23rd meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro provisionally closed accession negotiations on chapter 5 on public procurement. “The EU welcomes Montenegro’s progress in closing chapter 5 on public procurement. This marks the seventh negotiating chapter closed - a meaningful step forward on Montenegro’s path towards European integration.” | | — Adam Szłapka, Minister for European Affairs of Poland, on behalf of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU |
The EU may, if necessary, return to this chapter at an appropriate moment. Today’s closure follows the latest meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro on 16 December 2024, where chapters 7 (intellectual property), 10 (information society and media) and 20 (enterprise and industrial policy) were provisionally closed. Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis will continue throughout the negotiations. Montenegro has opened 33 negotiating chapters in its EU accession negotiations. With the provisional closure agreed today, a total of seven of these chapters have now been provisionally closed. According to the negotiating principles endorsed by the Accession Conference, agreements reached in the course of negotiations on specific chapters, even partial ones, may not be considered as final until an overall agreement has been reached for all chapters. The European Union delegation was led by Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol, Permanent Representative of Poland to the EU, on behalf of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, with the participation of Director General for Enlargement and the Eastern Neighbourhood, Mr Gert Jan Koopman. The Montenegrin delegation was led by Mr Milojko Spajić, Prime Minister of Montenegro. |
