Montenegro is backing new EU rule-of-law safeguards for future members while insisting they must be based on objective criteria and not create a second tier of membership.
Montenegro backs new safeguards to stop future EU members backsliding on the rule of law and democratic standards, but only if they rest on objective criteria for assessing systemic breaches, the country's ambassador to the EU has told Euronews.
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Montenegro is the most advanced candidate country in the accession process, aiming to become the 28th EU member state in 2028. But its bid might be complicated by a string of proposals to overhaul how enlargement works.
Chief among them: five of the six EU founding members have called for stronger safeguards against democratic rollback after accession — a lesson drawn from Viktor Orbán's Hungary.
Petar Marković, Montenegro's head of mission to the EU, told Euronews his country supports tougher safeguards, noting that Podgorica already outperforms some member states on rule of law reforms, according to the European Commission's periodic review.
"Montenegro has an interest in introducing guarantees meant to maintain EU standards. But the potential breaches would have to be assessed on a case-by-case basis against objective criteria to prove systematic backsliding," he said.
Marković argued the criteria must be agreed before membership begins, and should not be used to pre-emptively curtail a new member's voting rights through a transitional period — a move he called politically and legally dubious, warning it could effectively create a second-class membership.
At the same time, the ambassador acknowledged that one of Montenegro's main incentives for accepting new safeguards is that they could smooth the ratification process, providing additional reassurance, particularly as the political spectrum in some founding members shifts rightward and grows more sceptical of enlargement.
Reform of the methodology
Another proposal on the table is "gradual integration," pushed by France and Germany, which would let candidate countries reap early benefits of EU membership as they advance through the accession process.
"For far too long, there has not been a real discussion on the enlargement methodology," Marković said, welcoming the return of enlargement as a top political priority in European capitals.
But he argued that after 14 years of intensive work in the accession process, it would be unfair to change the rules this late — especially since Montenegro was the first country to accept, and the most advanced country approaching the finishing line under the current methodology.
"This is not about what we deserve. This is a rational choice. Discussions on a new methodology should focus on the candidate countries for which the current methodology has not worked. For Montenegro, it clearly has," Marković added.
"Strategically, the stakes could not be higher. The EU has a real chance to reverse the Brexit effect and return to expanding again," Marković concluded.