In an exclusive interview with Euronews, Jakov Milatović calls EU enlargement an insurance policy for "the security of the European continent".
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Montenegro's youngest-ever president at the age of 36, Jakov Milatović, was elected in May last year, winning a landslide majority on an unabashedly pro-EU platform.
An economist by trade and former minister of economic development, Milatović has balanced his ambitions for Europe with a desire for closer relations with Serbia. This is despite the fact that he disagrees with his former federal state partner on crucial issues, most of all the recognition of Kosovo.
Whereas Serbia has not yet recognised Kosovo and shows no sign of changing its mind, Montenegro has recognised it, and Milatović does not want to change that.
Talking to Euronews, Milatović acknowledged that there are still challenges to overcome on the way to EU membership, quipping that "if there were no challenges, we would already be part of the EU".
Those challenges boil down to a list of reforms needed in various areas, from the judicial system to guaranteed freedom of expression and effective safeguards against corruption.
Milatović believes not only that solving these problems is at the centre of the EU accession process, but that solving them is more important for the country than obtaining EU funding — the importance of which he does not deny — because it is a "key anchor which constantly reminds the policymakers about the reform agenda".
That agenda, Milatović argues, will drive a "transformative process" which will "ultimately benefit the people, because we all want to live in a society where there is a clear rule of law, where there is a clear, good governance, where there is zero corruption".
He concedes there have been setbacks on that path, citing as yet unsolved attacks on journalists and the lack of independence for the country's public broadcaster, but he vows to fix them.
However, he reports "good news" from the club Montenegro wants to join. "There is a new momentum in Brussels, also in the other capitals of the member states about the enlargement," he says.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, "the EU understood that the enlargement policy is also about the security of the European continent".
You can watch the full interview next Thursday (12 December) on the new edition of The Global Conversation.