The European Commission’s top official has urged Montenegro to continue its European Union integration process after the NATO member country elected a new government and ended a political impasse that had blocked its candidacy upon membership.
PODGORICA, Montenegro — The European Commission’s top official on Tuesday urged Montenegro to continue its European Union integration process after the NATO member country elected a new government, ending a deadlock policy which blocked his candidacy for the EU.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met senior Montenegrin officials hours after parliament confirmed the new government following a heated all-night session.
Parliament approved the new Cabinet by 46 votes in favor and 19 against. Montenegro’s assembly has 81 members, but not all were present.
“Montenegro has long been the Western Balkan country furthest along the path to EU membership, and I am pleased to see that you are determined to maintain this position,” von der Leyen said after his meeting with President Jakov Milatovic.
“My first message is that I am delighted that you are now fully concentrating on the task of achieving the accession goal,” she added. “Together we should now reach the last kilometer and cross the finish line.”
The government was formed after months of political wrangling following a election in June. Prime Minister Milojko Spajic’s centrist Europe Now party won the election, but without enough support to form a government on its own.
To form the government, the winning coalition received the support of staunchly anti-Western groups on the condition that one of their leaders, Andrija Mandic, be elected speaker of parliament.
Spajic said his government would be pro-European despite Mandic’s election. He rejected reports that his cabinet was influenced by neighboring Serbia, from which Montenegro split in 2006 after an independence referendum.
“We hope to unlock European integration, move forward quickly and become the next member of the European Union,” Spajic told reporters.
Spajic then met with von der Leyen, who is touring Western Balkan countries aspiring to join the 27-nation union. Von der Leyen visited North Macedonia and Kosovo before Montenegro and visited Serbia on Tuesday.
In Belgrade, she said enlargement was top of the EU agenda at a time of “global turbulence”.
The EU wants to strengthen the unity and security of Europe, von der Leyen said after a meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. “We want Serbia to join the union… It is a promise of peace and prosperity and it is a unique opportunity, at this time, that no one else can match.”
Serbia is officially seeking EU membership but has maintained friendly relations with Russia and refused to join Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine.
Six Western Balkan countries are at different stages on the path to joining the EU, a process expected to take years.
As war rages in Ukraine, EU officials have sought to move the process forward and encourage Balkan countries to accelerate reforms in order to join. Von der Leyen was discussing details of the 6 billion euro ($6.37 billion) program for Western Balkan countries.
She also spoke of the tensions that remain in the region long after the ethnic wars of the 1990s.
Recent violence between Serbia and Kosovo is high on von der Leyen’s agenda as the EU seeks to negotiate a solution. Kosovo separated from Serbia in 2008, but Belgrade has refused to recognize the former province’s independence.
Vucic said after meeting with von der Leyen that “the two biggest obstacles for us are Kosovo… and the sanctions against the Russian Federation.” He said Serbia would continue its European path without “directly endangering our state and national interests.”
Von der Leyen told Montenegro that there were no fixed dates for a country to join the EU and that the process depended entirely on reforms and progress made by countries.
U.S. and European officials have suggested that Montenegro’s government should avoid introducing an anti-NATO and anti-Western political party into its coalition if it wants to join the bloc.
Mandic had called for close ties with Russia rather than the EU and criticized Montenegro’s membership in NATO. But when he was elected president of Parliament on Monday, he declared himself ready to “send new messages”.
Hundreds of opposition supporters waving Montenegrin flags demonstrated outside the Parliament building, and opposition MPs criticized the new government as anti-European due to the participation of pro-Serb parties.