Podgorica is ready to take 'punishments' to join the EU – as long as they're treated equally
A slew of national elections will test how credible the EU’s pledge to expand really is, Montenegro has warned.
The 600,000-strong nation is the frontrunner to become the bloc’s 28th member and is speeding towards completing all the reforms Brussels requires by the end of the year.
But presidential elections in France next spring, followed by potentially seismic votes in Spain, Italy and Poland are raising a new threat to their bid just as the finish line appears.
“For enlargement, not only for Montenegro, the huge tests are the elections in several capitals of the member states next year,” Maida Gorčević, Montenegro’s minister of European affairs, told Euractiv.
