“Our motivation to join the EU stems from shared values, the benefits of the single market with its half a billion people compared to half a million Montenegrins, and it being a peace project, potentially the last one on Earth today,” Spajić said. “These factors represent the value of the European Union.”
In light of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland, non-EU countries from Iceland to Moldova have shown growing interest in joining the EU for security and safety reasons, beyond trade and economic benefits.
Montenegro is the most advanced candidate in the accession process, having closed 14 out of the 33 negotiating chapters required for EU membership. However, some member states are hesitant about expansion, wanting to reform the EU’s decision-making process first.
Spajić stated that Podgorica aims to join the EU by 2028 and is “80, 90 percent there” with the remaining chapters, expressing confidence in completing them by the end of 2026.
“The reforms we are undertaking now are completely unprecedented,” he remarked.
Joining the EU would offer “hope to the Western Balkans” and maintain “enlargement as a very, very strong tool of the European Union,” Spajić argued.
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