Costa in Montenegro: “Impressive progress” toward accession

Brussels – António Costa‘s tour of the Western Balkans continues. After touching on Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina yesterday, the president of the European Council visits Montenegro and Kosovo today. In Podgorica, he met with the president of the republic, Jakov Milatović, whom he congratulated on the progress on the road to accession to the twelve-star club.

Podgorica is pulling the sprint toward EU entry. Word of António Costa, who was visiting the Montenegrin capital this morning (May 14). “Montenegro is one of the best examples of the EU’s positive momentum toward enlargement,” said the former Portuguese premier at a joint press conference alongside the head of state, Jakov Milatović.

Costa noted that Podgorica is moving at an “impressive” rhythm with the implementation of the pre-accession reforms, emphasising in particular the “full alignment” with the EU’s common foreign and security policy, CFSP, starting with support for Ukraine. Compared to other candidate countries, Montenegro and Albania are clearly in pole position to join the Union.

Inspiring to see Montenegro’s progress on its European path.

Today in Podgorica, I commended President @JakovMilatovic and PM @MickeySpajic on the country’s ambition, hard work and focus to become an EU member.

Now is time to make the most of the positive momentum – the pace… pic.twitter.com/dKUg5hPpvy

– António Costa (@eucopresident)
May 14, 2025

The host cashes in and raises the stakes. The small Balkan country is “proud to be in the lead among those aspiring to European integration,” and the goal, already mentioned several times, remains “become the 28th member state in 2028.” An ambitious but achievable goal, Milatović argues.

“A very good slogan,” commented his host, but better yet “get there before”. Costa reiterated that among the essential conditions for joining the Union is respect for the acquis communautaire (i.e., EU law), as well as institutional stability and good neighbourly relations, both with other countries in the region and with the Twenty-Seven.

Since yesterday, the president of the European Council has been travelling through the six Western Balkan partners. He departed from Belgrade, where he met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić (with whom he was particularly soft, although the alignment with the CFSP is decidedly of a different tenor), and the second stop will be in Sarajevo with the leaders of the tripartite presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina.

In these hours, Costa is in Pristina, Kosovo, where he is scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with President Vjosa Osmani. Tomorrow, he will travel to Skopje, in Northern Macedonia, and then close the tour in Tirana, in Albania, where he will attend the sixth summit of the European Political Community.