Croatia-Montenegro: Bilateral Conflicts Meet EU Veto Power

Among the candidate countries for accession to the European Union, Montenegro remains the frontrunner in the negotiation process when compared to its Western Balkan neighbours. All chapters of the acquis communautaire have already been opened, marking substantial progress in formal alignment with EU standards. Nevertheless, the country’s trajectory toward membership reached a standstill in December 2024, when Croatia exercised its veto power on the closure of Chapter 31 “Common Foreign, Security and Defence Policy”. This blockage, arising from unresolved bilateral disputes, not only highlights the persistent role of domestic politics in shaping enlargement dynamics but also illustrates a broader structural weakness of the EU accession framework: the capacity of individual member states to halt the process on the basis of national interests, thereby undermining the credibility and consistency of the enlargement policy as a whole. This paper by Ivana Ristovska examines Montenegro’s trajectory toward EU integration, the contentious issues with Croatia, and the potential future scenarios, against the backdrop of Podgorica’s ambitious objectives: finalizing accession negotiations by 2026 and securing membership in the European Union by 2028. Drawing on the European Commission’s 2025 Report, it further situates Montenegro’s stalled accession as a critical test of the European Union’s enlargement policy, where technical readiness meets political discretion.