Podgorica: Montenegro has edged past a symbolic milestone on its long march into the European Union, closing enough negotiating chapters to reach the halfway point and keeping alive its bid to be the bloc’s next member.

The small Adriatic state has now provisionally closed 16 of the 33 chapters that make up the accession talks, more than any other candidate. Its government insists it can finish negotiations by the end of 2026 and join the Union by 2028.

Recent months brought closures in politically weighty areas, including competition and the customs union, alongside chapters on the free movement of workers and on consumer and health protection. Each closed chapter signals that Podgorica’s laws now align with the bloc’s in that field.

Momentum is spreading down the queue. Albania, whose talks are meant to wrap up in 2027, secured the provisional closure of its first three chapters in one sitting, covering science and research, education and culture, and external relations.

Those files were the easy ones, tied to programmes such as Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ that Tirana has taken part in for years. The harder tests, on the rule of law, judicial independence and the fight against organised crime, still lie ahead for both capitals.

The contrast with the eastern applicants is sharp. Ukraine and Moldova have opened their first cluster of talks but remain snarled by the need for unanimous approval, with individual governments able to freeze progress chapter by chapter.

For the Western Balkans, Montenegro has become the test case for a process often accused of losing credibility. A clear success would reassure neighbours that the door is genuinely open, while another stall would deepen the fatigue that has settled over the region.

European officials caution that the remaining chapters are the ones that decide everything. Closing them means proving, not just promising, that courts are independent and corruption is pursued, a bar that has tripped candidates before.

The European Commission tracks the progress in its enlargement reporting, and the political will in member states will matter as much as the paperwork. For now Montenegro sets the pace, and its 2028 target gives the whole enlargement project a date to aim at.

Scale works in Montenegro’s favour. With roughly 620,000 people and an economy already tightly linked to the euro, it can adopt the bloc’s rules faster than larger candidates, though smallness also leaves its institutions thin and easily stretched by the reform workload.