Croatia has sent EU member states a document outlining its national position on unresolved issues with Montenegro.
In the document, Zagreb lists the conditions Montenegro must meet before joining the European Union.
Some of these demands are directly linked to the closure of negotiating Chapters 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights) and 31 (Foreign, Security and Defence Policy).
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has learned from diplomatic sources that Croatia circulated the document to other member states earlier this week.
The document obtained by RFE/RL states that the main outstanding issues “must be resolved before Montenegro joins the European Union.”
Zagreb stresses that tangible progress on these matters is crucial to securing broad public, political and parliamentary support in Croatia, including ratification of Montenegro’s EU Accession Treaty.
Six demands under Chapter 23
Most of the demands concern the consequences of the wars of the 1990s and fall under Chapter 23.
This chapter, together with Chapter 24, is one of the two key chapters dealing with the rule of law.
During EU accession negotiations, these two chapters are opened first and closed last, while progress on them determines the pace of the entire accession process.
- Compensation for people detained at the Morinj camp. According to the document, more than 300 Croatian citizens, mainly from the Dubrovnik region, were detained at the camp between October 1991 and August 1992.
- Preservation of the memorial plaque in Morinj. The plaque was jointly unveiled by the ministers of the two countries on 10 October 2022, using wording proposed by the Montenegrin side. Croatia says a larger metal structure has since been installed around the plaque, apparently for a panel that could cover it except during official commemorative ceremonies.
- Changing the name of the city swimming pool in Kotor. The pool is named after water polo player Zoran Gopčević, who, according to the Croatian side, served as a guard at the Morinj camp in 1991–1992. Croatian clubs have therefore refused to play at the pool, while the Croatian national team threatened to boycott the 2025 Water Polo World Cup final. The boycott was avoided after Croatia’s matches were moved to Budva.
- Clarifying the fate of 14 missing Croatian citizens. Croatia is calling for full cooperation from the Montenegrin authorities, information sharing and access to archives to establish what happened to them.
- Prosecution of war crimes, including crimes based on command responsibility. According to Zagreb, Montenegro has not issued any court ruling on war crimes involving this form of responsibility.
- Resolving property rights claims by Croatian families, including 51 families from Tivat and others from the Bay of Kotor. Their claims remain unresolved despite final court rulings or lengthy proceedings. Zagreb compares this situation with the 2021 law through which land in Valdanos Bay was returned to former owners, primarily members of the Albanian minority, warning of unequal treatment in comparable cases.
The Jadran training ship and the border dispute
The other two demands concern Chapter 31. Montenegro has been unable to close this chapter since 2024 because of Croatia’s blockade, which followed the Montenegrin Parliament’s adoption of a resolution on the Jasenovac concentration camp.
- Return of the Jadran training ship. According to Croatia, the ship was in Montenegro for repairs when the war broke out in 1991 and belongs to Croatia under the 2001 Agreement on Succession Issues of the Former Yugoslavia.
- The border issue. Croatia wants Montenegro to confirm that it respects the former border between the two republics, in accordance with the legal principle of uti possidetis juris, as confirmed by the Badinter Commission. Zagreb is also seeking the signing of a land-border agreement based on three existing maps. Once the land-border issue is resolved, Croatia would be prepared to convene regular meetings of the commissions tasked with determining the maritime boundary, although it has not set any specific deadlines.
Why is this document important?
The EU Common Position is a document through which member states establish the European Union’s position on opening or closing a particular negotiating chapter, including the criteria a candidate country must meet.
The draft is prepared by the European Commission after the candidate country submits its negotiating position on the relevant chapter.
The Commission assesses how closely the country’s legislation aligns with EU law and proposes the conditions that must be fulfilled.
The draft is then examined by diplomats from all 27 member states in the Council of the EU’s Working Party on Enlargement.
This is the stage at which political negotiations take place, as member states may request amendments, additional conditions or delays to the process.
Since the Common Position must be adopted unanimously, every member state effectively has veto power.
At this stage, member states often make a candidate country’s progress conditional on resolving bilateral disputes.
Only after all member states reach an agreement does the draft become the EU’s Common Position.
It is presented to the candidate country at an intergovernmental conference, where the negotiating chapter is formally opened or provisionally closed.
The consent of all member states is also required to ratify the Accession Treaty.
On Monday, Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman signalled that Zagreb had no intention of abandoning its demands.
Following the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on 12 October, he told reporters that Croatia’s demands concerned the legacy of the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and the Homeland War, as Croatia calls the conflict of the 1990s.
According to him, these are human rights issues.
“We are also talking about the rule of law. These are fundamental rights. Over the past 20, or rather 35 years, none of these issues has been resolved,” he said.
Support for Montenegro, while protecting Croatia’s national interests
Croatia states in the document that it has consistently supported Montenegro’s Euro-Atlantic integration, including its accession to NATO.
It notes that it has provided Montenegro with Croatian translations of EU legislation worth €8 million.
At the same time, Zagreb argues that “unexpected unilateral actions” by the Montenegrin authorities have reignited historical tensions and called into question broad support in Croatia for Montenegro’s EU membership.
According to the document, Croatia submitted an informal paper, known as a non-paper, to Montenegro in December 2023 listing the unresolved issues. It also shared the document with EU member states and the European Commission.
Bilateral consultations took place in January and May 2025, while the foreign ministers of the two countries met around ten times in 2026, each meeting initiated by Zagreb.
“None of the outstanding issues has yet been resolved,” the document states.
Croatia emphasises that its aim is to facilitate, rather than obstruct, Montenegro’s accession to the EU, arguing that its demands are limited, clearly defined and achievable.
