September 24, 2026

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The European Post

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Rights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final ThirdRights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final Third
September 24, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Rights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final ThirdRights Groups Test the EU Civil Society Strategy as Pressure MountsJudges Weigh EU Staff Nationality Quotas in Parliament Hiring CasePatents Could Unlock Startup Loans Under the European Innovation ActHungary EU Funds Move Closer as Commission Lifts Rule of Law FreezeMinisters Debate Chips Act 2.0 as Europe Pushes for More Chip OutputMontenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint StallsGlobal Green Bond Initiative Bets on Private Money for PartnersEurope Draws a Line on Strait of Hormuz Tolls as Iran Talks ResumeStrasbourg Lets the European Defence Fund Pay for Tests in UkraineCSAM Regulation Talks Hinge on Scanning Private MessagesGoogle GDPR Fine of €403 Million Puts Location Data on TrialMFF 2028-2034 Talks Stall as Ministers Hold Their Red LinesBanks Contest Key Parts of the EU Banking Competitiveness PlanEMFAF Amendment Offers Fishers Simpler Rules and a Quota Cut CushionTeachers Trail Pupils as AI in Education Reports Expose a Training GapMacron Presses Brussels to Relax EU Fuel Quality Rules Before WinterEurostat Fuel Prices Jump 23.8 Per Cent as Diesel Leads August RiseData Centre Rating Scheme Puts Energy and Water Use on the EU RecordEU Indo-Pacific Security Partnerships Move From Paper to the SeaEU Thailand Free Trade Agreement Heads to Phuket for Its Final Third

Montenegro Waits on a Dutch Vote as the EU Enlargement Sprint Stalls

Matteo Guendouzi
Senior Reporter, Enlargement

Podgorica: EU enlargement lost momentum on 22 September 2026, when EU ministers met at the General Affairs Council in Brussels without holding a single accession conference with any of the four negotiating candidates. After a crowded June and a record July, the September meeting passed with no new chapters closed and no new clusters opened for Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine or Moldova.

The pause matters for EU enlargement because the calendar has become unforgiving. Only three General Affairs Councils remain before the end of 2026, and each candidate has pinned its national timetable to those dates. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos promised an “autumn of enlargement” in early September, yet the first real test of that promise produced nothing concrete.

Montenegro, the front-runner, explains part of the delay. The government in Podgorica hoped to provisionally close Chapter 18 on statistics this month, but the Dutch parliament still has to approve the step under its own domestic procedure, with a hearing set for 23 September. Diplomats describe the hold-up as procedural rather than political, and they expect The Hague to give its consent without a fight.

The bigger question is volume. Montenegro still needs to close fifteen chapters, including the demanding Chapter 23 on the judiciary and fundamental rights and Chapter 24 on justice, freedom and security. European Affairs Minister Maida Gorčević has said her team already sent nine closing files to the European Commission and will deliver the remaining six by the end of September. Podgorica wants to wrap up talks in 2026 and sign an accession treaty in 2027.

Albania faces a similar bottleneck inside the Council. Tirana closed its first three chapters in July and wants to finish negotiations by the end of 2027. Member states have not yet agreed the EU common position on Chapter 20, which covers enterprise and industrial policy, and the Council’s Working Party on Enlargement is still drafting the text.

Ukraine and Moldova face a harder problem. The two candidates remain tied together under the so-called package approach, and Hungary continues to refuse to unblock the opening of new clusters with Kyiv, according to diplomatic sources quoted by The New Union Post. That veto freezes Moldova as well, even though every member state reportedly considers Chisinau ready to open Cluster 2 on culture, creativity and an inclusive society.

The wider political mood offers little cover. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen devoted limited attention to enlargement in her State of the Union address on 16 September, promising only that roadmaps for the most advanced candidates would arrive soon. Iceland’s voters rejected reopening accession talks in a referendum on 29 August, and Serbia heads to snap parliamentary elections on 25 October, which prompted von der Leyen to postpone a planned visit to Belgrade and Sarajevo.

Brussels officials insist the process has slowed rather than stalled. An EU source told reporters that the aim is to hold the next accession conferences as soon as possible. The Council’s own forward look for 14 to 27 September lists the ministerial meetings where that work could resume, while the Commission’s enlargement and Eastern neighbourhood portal tracks each candidate’s chapters and clusters.

The next milestone arrives quickly. The Commission plans to present its pre-enlargement policy reviews on 30 September, setting out how the Union itself must adapt its budget, institutions and decision-making to absorb new members. If EU enlargement is to keep the pace that 2026 promised, the October and November Councils now need to deliver what September could not, starting with a Dutch green light for Montenegro and a Hungarian decision on Ukraine and Moldova.

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