Today, the EU and Montenegro provisionally closed accession negotiations on economic and monetary policy (chapter 17), statistics (chapter 18) and social policy and employment (chapter 19).
I am proud that at the second Intergovernmental Conference for Montenegro held under the Irish presidency, we provisionally closed three more negotiating chapters. With 21 negotiating chapters now provisionally closed, Montenegro is making continued progress towards the closure of all remaining chapters. Enlargement is a geopolitical necessity for the EU and remains a top priority of the Irish presidency.
Thomas Byrne, Minister of State for European affairs and defence of Ireland, on behalf of the Irish presidency of the Council of the EU
These provisional closures follow on the heels of the previous accession conference on 14 July 2026, which provisionally closed chapters 8 on competition policy and 29 on customs union. Monitoring of progress in the alignment with and implementation of the EU acquis will continue throughout the negotiations.
Montenegro has opened all 33 negotiating chapters in its EU accession negotiations. With today’s closures, a total of twenty-one of these chapters have now been provisionally closed. According to the negotiating principles endorsed by the Accession Conference, agreements reached in the course of negotiations on specific chapters may not be considered as final until an overall agreement has been reached for all chapters.
The EU may, if necessary, return to these chapters at an appropriate moment.
