About: Montenegro Archives

European Council president Charles Michel on Sunday (16 February) met with leaders of the six Western Balkan nations seeking to join the EU, for 'frank' talks ahead of a key summit in Zagreb in May.

Montenegro needs its own Orthodox church to ward off meddling from Serbia and cement its identity, President Milo Đukanović told AFP, as tensions seethe over who controls a faith shared by both countries.

The new enlargement rules presented by the Commission on Wednesday (5 February) are supposed to inject credibility, predictability, dynamism and a political steer into the increasingly moribund process. "This is a geostrategic investment," promised Olivér Várhelyi, the Commissioner for enlargement.

Hundreds of backers of Montenegro's pro-Serb opposition took to the streets of the capital Podgorica on Thursday (26 December), rallying against a law they say would strip the Serbian Orthodox Church there of its property.

Four eastern European Union members on Thursday (12 September) backed the accession of Western Balkan countries to the bloc, saying North Macedonia and Albania should start talks this year.

Unless the EU accession process of the Western Balkans picks up the pace, the six countries of the region may examine alternatives for their countries’ external orientation, including boosting relations with China, Russia, Turkey and the Gulf States, a report …

Several hundred Bosnians protested on Sunday (16 June) against an influx of migrants in the western border town of Bihac, warning of security and health risks from thousands sleeping rough. Bosnia, spared the big migrant wave of 2015, is now seeing …

As Globsec’s 2019 forum in Bratislava kicked off earlier this week, EURACTIV went along to listen to world leaders from politics, civil society and business on the Future of Europe. Here we present a summary of the main talking points in the field, across the first two days.

With enlargement being a “hot potato” for EU institutions, EURACTIV addressed the issue in a debate on Tuesday (5 June). Diplomats and journalists talked freely about the perceived reluctance of some member states, but also about existing real internal obstacles.

EU membership candidate Montenegro is carrying "a heavy legacy, plagued with low standards and weak institutions", but it has already made progress and its EU orientation is "clear and strong", its prime minister told EURACTIV Germany in an interview.

A Montenegro court is set Thursday (9 May) to deliver verdicts to 14 people accused of planning to violently overthrow the government with Russian help in 2016, an alleged plot whose details remain murky even after a lengthy trial.

Serbia's accession to the EU in 2025 seems unrealistic, given its slow pace of progress, though not entirely impossible, civil society representatives have said but warned that neither Belgrade nor Brussels were trying very hard. EURACTIV Serbia reports.

Thousands protested in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica on Saturday (2 February), the fourth such rally in as many weeks, demanding that President Milo Djukanović and his government resign over alleged corruption, cronyism and abuse of office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday (17 January) called for stability in the Balkans during a pageantry-filled visit to Serbia, a key Moscow ally.

With T-shirts, mugs and murals bearing his face, Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to receive a rock star welcome on Thursday (17 January) when he lands in Serbia, Moscow's key ally on the edge of Europe.

An award-winning investigative reporter was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison in Montenegro on drug trafficking charges on Tuesday (15 January), in a ruling slammed by media watchdog RSF as a "disturbing set-back" for press freedom. 

While the EU has played for time, delaying the EU enlargement process largely because of its own problems, the geopolitical context has changed, writes Vladimir Krulj.

Beijing’s influence in the Balkans continues to grow, but we should not compare it with Russia. Chinese influence differs in both motives and tools used for its spreading, writes Matej Šimalčík.

The 2019 European elections could be hit by a spate of cyberattacks, which could even prevent the new European Parliament from convening, a report led by the Estonian Information System Authority has warned.

Hungary yesterday (24 July) criticised legal action by the European Union to make the country comply with EU asylum rules as "unacceptable" and an attack against those who protect Europe.

Montenegro defended yesterday (19 July) its contribution to peace in response to US President Donald Trump, who said the tiny Balkan nation's "aggressive" people were capable of triggering "World War III".

Answering a journalistic question, President Donald Trump yesterday (17 July) appeared to put in doubt the United States' obligation to defend all NATO allies.

Though the EU has lately been busy dealing with issues such as Brexit and the migration crisis, it has found time to talk of the integration of the Western Balkans. A steady integration of the region is good news indeed as this could lead to a federalised Europe and a complete Union, writes Bernard Kouchner.

The attitude that the EU owes something to the candidate countries in the Western Balkans is wrong, as well as the belief that concerns over the growing Russian influence in the region will be enough to bring someone "closer to the EU”, according to the EU Ambassador to Montenegro, Aivo Orav.