Montenegro provisionally closed another chapter of its EU membership talks on Tuesday, bringing the total number of chapters closed so far to 14.
The decision was taken at the 26th meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro, which agreed to provisionally close Chapter 21 on Trans-European networks, the European Commission announced on Tuesday.
Trans-European networks refer to EU-backed cross-border links such as transport, energy and digital infrastructure designed to connect member states.
The EU can return to the chapter later “if necessary”, the Commission noted.
The latest provisional closure comes less than two months after the previous accession conference on 26 January 2026, when Chapter 32 on financial control was provisionally closed.
Montenegro has opened all 33 negotiating chapters in its accession talks, and 14 have now been provisionally closed.
What was said at the meeting
Marilena Raouna, Cyprus’s Deputy Minister for European affairs, said the step marked the closing of another negotiating chapter during the second Intergovernmental Conference for Montenegro held under Cyprus’s presidency of the Council of the EU.
The EU delegation was led by Raouna on behalf of the Cyprus presidency, with the participation of Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos, while Montenegro’s delegation was led by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić.
Progress in aligning with and implementing the EU’s "acquis" — the body of EU laws and rules — will continue to be monitored throughout the negotiations.
Any chapter-by-chapter agreements are not considered final until an overall agreement is reached across all chapters.
