Accession of Montenegro to the European Union
| Montenegrin EU accession bid | ||||||||||||||||
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| Status | Negotiating | |||||||||||||||
| Opened chapters | 26 | |||||||||||||||
| Closed chapters | 2 | |||||||||||||||
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The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro started the process of Accession to the European Union in November 2005, when negotiations over a Stabilisation and Association Agreement began. In May 2006, Montenegro voted for independence in a referendum and the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro was dissolved. Serbia continued with the existing negotiations, and separate negotiations were launched with Montenegro in September 2006. The Agreement was initialled on 15 March 2007 and officially signed on 15 October 2007. In 2010, the Commission issued a favourable opinion on Montenegro's application, identifying seven key priorities that would need to be addressed for negotiations to begin, and the Council granted it candidate status. In December 2011, the Council launched the accession process with a view to opening negotiations in June 2012. The accession negotiations with Montenegro started on 29 June 2012. With more than two thirds of the accession chapters opened, the country enjoys a widespread support among EU members' officials and is expected to conclude negotiations by 2019. In its 2016 assessment of the accession progress, European Commission has identified Montenegro as having the highest level of preparation for membership among the negotiating states.
Montenegro officially applied to join the EU on 15 December 2008. On 23 April 2009, the Council invited the European Commission to submit its opinion on the application. The Commission presented Montenegro with a questionnaire to assess its application on 22 July 2009. On 9 December 2009, Montenegro delivered its answers to the EC questionnaire. On 1 May 2010, the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) between Montenegro and the European Union came into force, after all the 27 member-states of EU had ratified the SAA. The European Commission on 9 November 2010 recommended Montenegro as candidate country. This candidate status was officially granted on 17 December 2010.
Montenegro is experiencing ecological, judicial and crime-related problems that may hinder its bid. Montenegro signed an agreement with the Bulgarian government in December 2007 in which Bulgaria will assist Montenegro with its Euro-Atlantic and EU integration for the following three years.
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