The EU told Montenegro on Wednesday that it would consider suspending the accession negotiations unless it established functional institutions and overcame a crisis related to the Constitutional Court.

The warning was made by Slovenian and Austrian foreign ministers Tanja Fajon and Alexander Schallenberg on a visit to Montenegro.

This is a visit which comes with a clear warning, but also encouragement that we bring on our colleagues’ behalf. We want this state to overcome the political crisis and the political impasse. The warning is, if the impasse goes on, Montenegro risks missing the next step on the path to the EU and ending up on the side, instead of on that path, Shallenberg said at a press conference.

He underlined that so far Montenegro has been a model for the region, but that now one can see growing polarisation and an impasse in key reforms.

After meeting with President Milo Djukanovic, Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic and Parliament Speaker Danijela Djurovic, Fajon and Schallenberg said the recent political developments in Montenegro had caused a deep institutional crisis and slowed down the EU accession negotiations.

Fajon said that if Montenegro formed the new authorities based on an amended law on the president, it would risk losing the EU’s trust.

No one wants the process to be stopped, she said. During the talks with the Montenegrin leaders, we agreed that it is high time to react, she added, underlining the urgency of forming the Constitutional Court.

Fajon said it was key for that process to wrap up by the end of January so that Montenegro could come out of the deep institutional and worst political crisis in several years.

Montenegro has been in a political crisis since August, when the Abazovic cabinet fell after he signed an agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church.

A new ruling majority was formed, led by the pro-Serbian Democratic Front, and it is supported by Abazovic, who nominated Miodrag Lekic, a Slobodan Milosevic-era diplomat, as prime minister-designate.

President Djukanovic refused to give Lekic the mandate to form a new government, claiming he was not convinced that parliament would support it.

In response, the ruling majority adopted a new law on the president which forces Djukanovic to give Lekic the mandate.

The law was assessed as non-constitutional by the Venice Commission and foreign diplomats.

The crisis has been deepened by a non-functioning Constitutional Court, as MPs have not been able to agree on the election of new judges for months.

Opposition supporters have been holding mass protests every week, demanding that the law on the president be pulled and that an early parliamentary election be called. The protests have been supported by Djukanovic.