[2][3][4] It is one of nine current EU candidate countries, together with Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and Ukraine.

The adoption of the Thessaloniki Declaration of 2003 was a promise by the EU that the former Yugoslav republics along with Albania have "unequivocal support for future integration and full membership of these states in the Union".

[9] In 2010, the Commission issued a favourable opinion on Montenegro's application, identifying seven key priorities that would need to be addressed for negotiations to begin.

In exchange for commitments to political, economic, trade, or human rights reform in the country, tariff-free access to some or all EU markets (industrial goods, agricultural products, etc.

[34] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Montenegro has a special agency dedicated to accession to the EU, the Office for Assistance to the Chief Negotiator.

On 27 July 2010, the Parliament passed a non-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation and gender identity as prohibited grounds of discrimination.

The 2015 European Commission Progress Report on Montenegro noted that the country had made good progress toward meeting the benchmarks to join the EU, but the nation needed to address institutional frameworks, including competition policy, fighting against corruption and organized crime, and work in the areas of the environment and climate change.

[36][37] A 2015 study of the readiness to join the EU by using data from the World Bank Enterprise Survey collected from enterprise owners and management indicated that Montenegro passed three out of six business dimensions: basic infrastructure, goods delivery, and secure legal secure environment, but was lower than four other candidate nations in resources, technology support, and regulations.

[37] In its 2016 assessment of the accession progress, the European Parliament identified Montenegro as having the highest level of preparation for membership among the negotiating candidate nations.

[38] From 2014 through 2020, Montenegro received €279.1 million of developmental aid (not including the allocation for Cross-border Cooperation) from the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance, a funding mechanism for EU candidate countries.

[39] The priority areas for these funds include: democracy and governance, rule of law and fundamental rights, environment and climate action, transport, competitiveness and innovation, education, employment and social policies, agriculture and rural development, regional and territorial cooperation.

[69] The ECB has stated that the implications of unilateral euro adoption "would be spelled out at the latest in the event of possible negotiations on EU accession.

[67][70] Radoje Žugić, Montenegro's Minister of Finance, has stated that "it would be extremely economically irrational to return to our currency and then later to again go back to the euro.