According to the “Serbian Economist,” five EU countries—the Netherlands, Croatia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia—have called for a pause before closing the remaining negotiation chapters with Montenegro, reports the Podgorica-based newspaper Dan, citing diplomatic sources in Brussels.
The Netherlands initiated the move, demanding further analysis of Montenegro’s compliance with European criteria and a more consistent application of established standards. Croatia and the three Baltic countries subsequently joined this position.
This has already affected the negotiation schedule. The EU–Montenegro intergovernmental conference scheduled for September—at which Podgorica had hoped to close new chapters—will not take place.
However, Brussels’ official line is more conciliatory. An EU representative stated that several countries have not yet completed their internal approval procedures, as many negotiation chapters are technically complex.
“The desire to make progress is there. The work is practically complete. It’s more a matter of timing than anything else,” the EU representative said.
The most optimistic scenario at the moment is that the next intergovernmental conference will be held in mid-October in Luxembourg.
Montenegro remains the candidate that has made the most progress in the EU accession process. The country has opened all 33 negotiation chapters, 18 of which have already been provisionally closed. The last conference took place on July 14, when Chapters 8 (“Competition Policy”) and 29 (“Customs Union”) were closed.
Croatia’s position remains a separate issue. In July, Zagreb refused to agree to the closure of Chapter 14, “Transport Policy,” primarily due to issues regarding cabotage and aviation permits. Croatia also continues to block Chapter 31, “Foreign Policy, Security, and Defense,” due to unresolved bilateral issues with Montenegro.
The Council of the EU officially confirms that Montenegro’s progress continues and that work on new negotiating positions is ongoing.
A meeting involving representatives from Ukraine, the U.S., and Europe is set to take place in the near future, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said following a meeting with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, representatives of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We agreed that Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S. will meet in the near future. I don’t know where the meeting will take place. Perhaps in Ukraine again,” Zelenskyy said at a press conference in Kyiv.
The president noted that the American delegation’s visit worked for Kyiv “like a Patriot” and emphasized Ukraine’s need for it.
According to him, during the meeting, the parties discussed the challenges facing Ukraine on the eve of winter and a possible winter aid package.
According to the “Serbian Economist,” Serbia is ready to provide its territory as a venue for negotiations between Ukraine and Russia if both sides consider Belgrade’s involvement to be useful, said Andon Sapundži, Serbia’s ambassador to Ukraine.
“If there is a need for a venue for dialogue or negotiations, Serbia is ready to offer it,” the diplomat said in an interview with the Ukrainian publication “Apostrophe,” published on August 27.
At the same time, the ambassador emphasized that Belgrade has no intention of imposing its own terms for a settlement on the parties and believes that decisions regarding the start of negotiations, their format, and conditions should be made directly by Ukraine and Russia.
Sapundži also rejected the interpretation of Belgrade’s position as a call for Ukraine to cede part of its territory in order to end the war.
According to him, Serbia consistently supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders.
At the same time, Belgrade does not consider itself a party to the war and hopes to maintain the ability to engage in political dialogue with both sides.
In early August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Belgrade. This was the Ukrainian president’s first visit to Serbia in eight years. According to Sapundži, during the visit, Zelenskyy and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić held three separate meetings in less than a day, including a nearly four-hour informal conversation over dinner, official talks, and a one-on-one meeting.
According to the “Serbian Economist,” Serbia’s lack of progress in its EU accession negotiations could create additional challenges for Ukraine and Moldova, as some EU countries are insisting on maintaining a geographical balance between candidates from Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans.
Euronews reports this, citing EU diplomats.
Ukraine has opened two of the six negotiation clusters in recent weeks, but further acceleration of the process may face demands to simultaneously advance Serbia’s application.
“Progress in one direction creates pressure to move forward in the other as well,” one European diplomat told Euronews.
In early July, the European Commission once again recommended opening Cluster 3—dedicated to competitiveness and inclusive growth—for Serbia. Negotiations regarding Serbia have effectively remained stalled since December 2021.
However, eight EU member states opposed opening the chapter: the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Croatia. Denmark, Luxembourg, and Latvia are also not yet ready to support this decision. The consent of all 27 EU member states is required to open a negotiation chapter.
Opponents of Serbia’s advancement point to Belgrade’s insufficient progress in the areas of the rule of law, judicial independence, and democratic standards. Another reason is Serbia’s refusal to join the EU’s sanctions against Russia.
The European Commission, on the other hand, believes that Belgrade has implemented some of the recommendations, repealed controversial changes to judicial legislation, improved cooperation with the EU on foreign policy, and strengthened ties with Ukraine. At the same time, Brussels acknowledges that Serbia needs to continue reforming its judicial and prosecutorial systems.
France, Spain, and a group of countries calling themselves the “Friends of the Western Balkans” advocate for preserving Serbia’s membership prospects. They fear that Ukraine’s rapid progress against the backdrop of Belgrade’s prolonged stagnation will be perceived as the application of double standards.
Euronews emphasizes that the negotiation processes for Ukraine and Serbia have not yet been formally merged. However, as Kyiv and Chisinau push to open the remaining clusters by the end of the year, demands for equal treatment of the candidate countries may intensify.
The governments of Serbia and Ukraine have issued a joint statement on the continuation of negotiations on a free trade agreement, said Marko Čadež, president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“Ukraine is the only European country with which Serbia does not have a signed free trade agreement. After direct contacts between the relevant institutions on this issue were reestablished last year, this week, during the visit of a Ukrainian government-business delegation to Belgrade, we must take this long-awaited step forward,” he said.
According to Chadezh, the document is expected to be signed in the coming days by Taras Kachka, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, and Jagoda Lazarević, Serbia’s Minister of Domestic and Foreign Trade.
The President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted that there is interest in such an agreement among both the Serbian and Ukrainian business communities, especially in sectors where lower tariffs, simplified procedures, and more predictable business conditions could increase companies’ exports.
“That is precisely why it is important that, as negotiations continue, we arrive at a well-prepared sector-specific agreement focused on specific industries,” Chadezh emphasized.
He also noted that the amended and simplified rules for the cumulation of preferential origin under the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention, to which both Serbia and Ukraine are signatories, could expand the range of components for products traded on preferential terms with the EU, EFTA, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Turkey.
Ukraine and Singapore have intensified negotiations on opening the market to Ukrainian pork and finalizing the procedures for beginning its export, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSFSCP).
According to the report, during a visit to Singapore, a delegation from the agency, led by its head Serhiy Tkachuk, discussed with the leadership of the Singapore Food Agency the accreditation of Ukrainian enterprises in accordance with previously submitted applications.
“Ukraine already has experience cooperating with Singapore. To date, five forms of veterinary certificates for export have been agreed upon: heat-treated and canned meat products, poultry meat, table eggs, egg products, and pet food,” Tkachuk emphasized.
The trip also included a meeting with representatives of the Meat Traders Association (Singapore). Singaporean companies expressed interest in sourcing Ukrainian pork to diversify imports and strengthen food security.
For their part, representatives of the Meat Industry Association and Ukrainian exporters presented their production capacities and quality standards. The host side familiarized the Ukrainian delegation with the technologies used to prepare meat for sale in Singapore’s retail chains.
Following the meetings, agreements were reached on further cooperation to facilitate Ukrainian businesses’ entry into this market.
