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Couteau, B. “Montenegro’s new government: marching towards the European Union”, Blogpost, Jacques Delors Institute, December 2023

5 months have been necessary to form a new government in Montenegro since the parliamentary elections held on 11 June 2023. This marks a new chapter in the political crisis facing the country, which has been independent since 2006, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) since 2017 and has been negotiating its accession to the European Union (EU) since 20121.

Even though Montenegro has made rapid progress towards accession in the early 2010s, having opened all the negotiating chapters laid down in the process, the political crisis is now hindering it. After the fall of the Democratic Party of Socialists (Demokratska Partija Socijalista, DPS) in the parliamentary elections of 2020, the two successive governments have been overthrown by a vote of no confidence, leaving the country without a government for over 14 months.

While there is no indication that the Montenegrin government formed on 31 October will be the one to put an end to political instability, the unprecedented context in which it was sworn in could well enable the country, on the basis of a solid coalition agreement, to make decisive progress towards the European Union.