EU Formally Begins Drafting Montenegro Accession Treaty as Tivat Summit Sharpens Region's Divide

TIVAT, Montenegro, The European Union convened its most consequential Western Balkans gathering in years on the Adriatic coast last week, and the headline coming out of Tivat was not a declaration of intent but a concrete legal process: the EU has begun drafting an accession treaty with Montenegro, the first such step the bloc has taken with any candidate country since 2013.

The summit, held on 5 June in this small Montenegrin port town, was the first of its kind to be hosted inside the Western Balkans region itself rather than in Brussels. It brought together a roster of European heavyweights that underscored how seriously the bloc now treats its southeastern neighbourhood. According to a report published by the European Council on the day, the gathering was co-chaired by European Council President António Costa and hosted by Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni all in attendance.

The centrepiece news, confirmed by the EU's External Action Service, was institutional rather than rhetorical. In April, the Council had already approved an ad hoc working party to begin writing Montenegro's accession treaty, with fourteen of thirty-three negotiating chapters provisionally closed. At the post-summit press conference, Costa described it plainly: "For the first time since 2013, we are really counting down to the next accession." Von der Leyen set the target publicly, saying the goal was to have all remaining chapters closed "by the end of the year or the beginning of the next," with the treaty and procedural steps to follow. Montenegro's self-styled "28 by 28" ambition, to become the EU's 28th member state by 2028, now has a legal architecture to match the slogan.

Montenegro, a nation of roughly 623,000 people that joined NATO in 2017 and marked the 20th anniversary of its independence from a union with Serbia just last month, has been the region's frontrunner for years. But the Tivat summit, reporting from the European Union Institute for Security Studies noted, matters beyond Montenegro itself. As the furthest along of the six Western Balkan candidates, it is meant to demonstrate to others that the accession process can still deliver, a proof of concept the EU badly needs after years in which membership prospects felt frozen.

The contrast with Serbia was sharp, and deliberately so. German Chancellor Merz held bilateral talks on the summit's sidelines with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and according to a readout published by EUalive, Merz told Vučić plainly that Serbia cannot keep "swinging between Russia, China, and Europe." His formulation, quoted directly: "When the answer from Serbia is 'Europe', then the answer from Europe will be 'Serbia'." Vučić, for his part, said Serbia is committed to its EU path and that "a lot of reforms" were needed, while Costa reported that Belgrade had presented a concrete calendar for electoral law and judiciary reforms in the coming weeks.

Security ran as a secondary but visible thread. Montenegrin authorities told reporters they had foiled a plot to disrupt the summit and turned away 87 Serbian nationals who arrived by chartered flight, citing national security grounds. The European Western Balkans news portal, which ran live coverage through the day, noted the episode had already inflamed tensions between Podgorica and Belgrade ahead of the summit's plenary sessions.

The broader geopolitical rationale for the EU's renewed urgency is not hard to read. The summit took place against what the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, in a briefing published ahead of the gathering, described as growing pressure from Russia and China across a region the EU has long treated as a waiting room rather than a strategic frontier. The December 2025 Brussels Declaration, in which all Western Balkans partners except Serbia aligned with EU security coordination and restrictive measures, made that divide institutional.

With EU leaders set to meet again at the June 18-19 European Council in Brussels, where the bloc's next long-term budget and the Ukraine file will dominate, the Tivat outcome offers a rare piece of procedural momentum. For Montenegro, at least, the countdown is real.

Sources cited:
- European Council (consilium.europa.eu) (https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-summit/2026/06/05/)
- EU External Action Service (eeas.europa.eu) (https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/montenegro/eu-western-balkans-summit-held-montenegro-eu-remains-committed-enlargement_en)
- European Western Balkans (live coverage) (https://europeanwesternbalkans.com/2026/06/05/eu-western-balkans-summit-in-tivat-live/)
- EUalive (https://eualive.net/tivat-summit-highlights-montenegro-as-eu-frontrunner-while-serbia-faces-sharp-choices/)
- EU Institute for Security Studies (https://www.iss.europa.eu/publications/commentary/eu-western-balkans-summit-enlargement-moves-forward-political-tensions)
- Brussels Institute for Geopolitics (https://big-europe.eu/publications/2026-06-01-eu-western-balkans-summit-changed-context-new-urgency)
- ABC News (AP wire) (https://abcnews.com/International/wireStory/balkan-leaders-attend-eu-summit-montenegro-enlargement-gains-133608860)
- The Region (connectingregion.com) (https://connectingregion.com/news/eu-western-balkans-summit-2026-enlargement-is-back-at-the-centre-of-europes-agenda/)