EU estimates Montenegro accession cost at 3.2B euros

Montenegro's accession to the European Union will cost the EU budget about 3.2 billion euros.

Report's European bureau informs that European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier said this at a briefing in Brussels.

According to him, this is the European Commission's preliminary assessment of the financial package covering the budgetary and financial terms of Montenegro's European integration. The assessment is based on the parameters of the EU's current budget and will be reviewed at the final stage of accession talks, taking into account the bloc's next multiannual budget for 2028-2034.

Mercier noted that, after EU member states agreed to start preparing the accession treaty, the financial package became the first step toward the final stage of Montenegro's accession process.

Montenegrin President Jakov Milatovic said at a press conference in Tivat on June 5, following the European Union-Western Balkans summit, that the country's goal of joining the EU by 2028 had become a national project with a clear timetable, road map and accountability mechanism.