Estonia Denies Seeking Pause in Montenegro EU Talks
Estonia's Foreign Ministry rejected claims it asked for a halt in Montenegro's EU integration, a day after a report named five countries as slowing the process.
Montenegro’s pace toward European Union membership has long served as a benchmark for Serbia’s own path to Brussels, since Podgorica is formally the furthest along among the Western Balkan candidates. Any report that the process is slowing down, especially one built on an unverified source, feeds directly into how the region reads the realistic timeline for enlargement, Serbia’s included. That is why the denial Estonia’s Foreign Ministry sent to the fact checking outlet Raskrinkavanje.me on Monday, September 21, amounts to more than a technical correction of a single story out of Podgorica.
The Podgorica daily Dan reported on Saturday, September 19, under a headline naming five countries that had allegedly “put their stamp on a stall in the talks.” According to that report, the Netherlands had asked for a pause in Montenegro’s further EU integration, citing the need for additional analysis and more consistent fulfillment of the set benchmarks. Citing unnamed sources, Dan wrote that Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia had joined that request, adding, in the paper’s account, further pressure on the pace of the negotiations so far.
Estonia’s ministry rejected the claim, as far as it concerned Estonia, without leaving room for interpretation.
Claims that Estonia is seeking a pause in the processes related to Montenegro’s further integration into the European Union are untrue. Montenegro has made significant progress in recent years and is now in the decisive phase of its path toward EU membership. Its achievements prove that continuous reforms deliver concrete results. Estonia remains a strong supporter of Montenegro’s European integration and stands ready to keep sharing its practical experience from the accession and membership process.
The statement came from Estonia’s Foreign Ministry in response to a question from Raskrinkavanje.me, which, after Dan’s report was published, sent inquiries about the alleged request for a pause to the relevant ministries in all five countries named. Estonia was the first to reply. Darvin Muric, editor-in-chief of Raskrinkavanje.me, said the responses from the remaining four countries, if they arrive, would be published later.
The EU Delegation in Podgorica also called the claims that individual member states had sought a halt in the talks unfounded.
Montenegro has made significant progress across all negotiating chapters. In this final phase, it is essential to maintain focus and broad political support for the remaining European reforms, particularly in the area of the rule of law.
Montenegro’s Ministry of European Affairs also responded, calling on the media to be more careful when reporting on the country’s EU negotiations and membership prospects. The ministry said it was recording a rising volume of disinformation and content bearing the hallmarks of domestic and foreign manipulation, particularly around alleged positions of member states, the pace of the talks and the closing of chapters.
The dispute over a single story comes at a moment when Montenegro’s negotiating process is already moving slowly, for reasons that have nothing to do with the Netherlands’ alleged request. Montenegro has so far closed 18 of the 33 negotiating chapters, and the last Intergovernmental Conference at which a chapter was closed took place this past July. Another chapter had been expected to close before the summer break, but Croatia blocked the closing of Chapter 14, on transport policy. That is the second chapter Croatia has held up: the neighboring country has also been blocking Chapter 31, on foreign, security and defense policy, for two years. Srpske Novine reported yesterday on how Montenegro’s talks with the EU keep failing to move forward despite the announcements, and despite Podgorica’s formal progress on meeting the criteria.
Nine of Montenegro’s negotiating positions are currently before the European Commission. According to diplomatic sources, the most optimistic scenario has the next Intergovernmental Conference, at which at least one new chapter could be closed, taking place in mid October in Luxembourg. Whether that date holds, and whether the row over the alleged request for a pause will color the mood ahead of that meeting, remains an open question for Montenegrin diplomacy in the coming weeks.
