Kotor, Montenegro. Wikimedia commons. Some rights reserved.Montenegro is the only country which is currently negotiating the terms of its EU membership with the administrations in Buseles. During the last two years 16 out of 35 chapters have been open. Because of significant problems Montenegro has with corruption and organized crime as well as with an inefficient judiciary, which is also the subject of a considerable political influence by the ruleing elite, the EU had opted for a new approach: the negotiations opened with chapters 23 and 24 (judiciary and the rule of law) and will conclude with those same chapters.
Moreover the bilateral agrement Montenegro signed gives the EU administration the power to invoke the 'overall balance clause' and effectively freeze the ascension process if progress made in the negotiation of chapters 23 and 24 has been deemed unsatisfactory. It is worth noting the lack of measurable outcomes in the past two years of negotiations.
Despite the demonstrable lack of progress on the road to EU membership, as noted in the EC Yearly Progress Reports for 2013 and 2014, the prime minister of Montenegro likes to point out that his country is a ‘regional leader’ in EU and NATO integrations. Aside from constituting a misrepresentation of facts, such boasting by the Montenegrin top government official indicates the significant problems facing other regional candidates for the EU membership: Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and FYR of Macedonia.
