The European Union welcomed Ambassador Jan Haukaas back to the OSCE Permanent Council on 25 June 2026 and commended his team's work, praising Montenegro's progress in EU accession negotiations and acknowledging the country's request to close the OSCE Mission by the end of 2027. In a statement delivered at Permanent Council No. 1569, the EU highlighted the Mission's two decades of partnership with Montenegrin institutions, civil society and media in support of reforms.
The EU positively noted Montenegro's provisional closure of numerous negotiating chapters during 2025 and 2026, as well as the advancement of work on drafting the Accession Treaty. It encouraged all political forces to find synergies in maintaining the reform focus and delivering on citizens' aspirations for joining the European Union.
The statement valued the Mission's continued support in strengthening police capacities to address organized crime, corruption, trafficking in human beings, and the misuse of small arms and light weapons. It commended an increased focus on enhancing national forensic activities through inter-agency cooperation, contributing to more effective criminal investigations and successful prosecutions.
In the field of media, the EU appreciated the Mission's strong focus on the safety of journalists, including the establishment of Montenegro's national press safety mechanism – the first of its kind in the region – while strengthening media self-regulation, accountability and professional standards. The EU also highlighted the Mission's contribution to justice sector reform through the Regional Trial Monitoring Project, aimed at strengthening the efficiency and fairness of judicial proceedings, the adjudication of high-level organized crime and corruption cases, and judicial consistency.
Considering Montenegro's request to close the Mission by the end of 2027, the EU acknowledged the Mission's intention to complete the implementation of its 2025-2027 strategic workplan to assist Montenegro in consolidating OSCE-related reform achievements from the past twenty years with a view to long-term sustainability and in line with the country's strategic ambitions.
The EU reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the momentum of enlargement, reiterating unequivocal support for the European Union membership perspective of the Western Balkans, based upon credible reforms by partners, fair and rigorous conditionality and the principle of own merits. Montenegro's recent achievements with the provisional closure of numerous negotiation chapters were cited as a strong signal that the EU is ready to move forward with candidate countries when they successfully fulfil the required steps.
Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, and Ukraine aligned themselves with the statement.