Montenegro’s ambassador to the EU has called for new safeguards for future EU members, emphasizing that these must be based on objective criteria to prevent democratic backsliding. As the most advanced candidate for EU accession, Montenegro aims to join by 2028, but faces challenges from proposed changes to the enlargement process.
The push for stronger safeguards comes in response to concerns over democratic erosion in existing member states, particularly Hungary. Montenegro supports tougher measures but insists that any criteria for assessing breaches should be established before membership, to avoid creating a tiered system of membership rights.
The ambassador highlighted that Montenegro already meets or exceeds some EU standards on rule of law, and that the proposed safeguards could facilitate the ratification process amid rising skepticism towards enlargement among some founding EU members.
Additionally, discussions around ‘gradual integration’ could allow candidate countries to access benefits of EU membership sooner. However, Montenegro argues that changing the rules at this stage would be unfair, given its long-standing commitment to the accession process and the progress made under current guidelines.
Source: Euronews
