Montenegro's EU accession to cost each taxpayer about €1 extra over six years

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BRUSSELS — Montenegro’s entry into the European Union will cost €3 billion over the bloc’s next budget, the European Commission said on Tuesday .

The small Balkan country, which is expected to join the bloc in 2028, is set to receive farmers’ subsidies and regional payouts from the EU’s central cash pot once it becomes a full member.

This would cost approximately €1 extra for each EU taxpayer over the next budget cycle from 2028 to 2034, said a senior European Commission official, granted anonymity as they were not allowed to speak on the record.

“It’s a very cheap cup of coffee,” they added.

The EU’s next €2 trillion budget — which will come into force at the start of 2028 — will have to be topped up to cover the costs of new members joining.

The Commission issued its financial proposal for Montenegro’s accession to the EU on June 30. It must now be agreed by EU countries before the start of financial negotiations between Brussels and Montenegro.

“Today’s package is another concrete step towards Montenegro’s future in our Union. We are getting Montenegro, Member States and our institutions ready,” the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a statement.

Montenegro — a country of 600,000 people that became an EU candidate in 2010 — is expected to become the EU’s next member by 2028, although chances of entering on Jan. 1 are slim, according to the official.

Its contribution to the EU budget is estimated at €500 million for the next seven years.

During the whole cycle, the Commission estimates Montenegro will receive €277 million in farmer’s subsidies, over €1 billion for regional payouts and rural spending and €592 million in migration funds.

Domestic businesses are estimated by the Commission to receive €523 million from the bloc’s new industrial cash pot, the European Competitiveness Fund — although the exact amount is difficult to predict because funding will be awarded competitively rather than allocated by country. Montenegro is set to receive a total of €3.1 billion from the budget.

The EU executive estimates that the overall net cost of accession — the difference between contributions and costs — for all Balkan countries vying to join the EU will be €8 billion for the next seven years.

Montenegro’s regional neighbors Albania, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Kosovo are also in talks to enter the bloc.