Montenegro
Montenegro renames Kotor swimming pool and legalizes Morinj plaque; Plenkoviq says other demands remain
Podgorica has met two of Croatia's eight demands in the EU accession process. The Croatian prime minister welcomed the step but said Zagreb expects progress on the other issues as well.
By ANN Newsroom · Newsroom
October 20, 2026, 21:13 · Updated 12:22 · 2 min read
In brief
- The Montenegrin government decided to change the name of Kotor's municipal swimming pool, named since 2021 after water polo player Zoran Gopçeviq.
- According to the Italian agency Nova, the government retroactively approved the memorial plaque placed in 2022 at the former Morinj camp.
- Plenkoviq said Croatia expects progress from Montenegro on all eight demands submitted in Brussels.
Montenegro's government has taken two decisions directly related to Croatia's demands in European Union accession negotiations: renaming Kotor's municipal swimming pool and giving legal status to the memorial plaque in Morinj. Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkoviq linked both decisions to the list of eight demands Zagreb recently submitted in Brussels.
“Croatia expects progress from Montenegro in meeting the eight demands,” Plenkoviq said, adding that “other issues remain to be resolved” and that talks with Podgorica will continue on issues related to values and good-neighborly relations.
The pool and the plaque
Since August 2021, the Kotor pool has borne the name of former Yugoslav water polo player Zoran “Džimi” Gopçeviq. Croatia claims he served as a guard at the Morinj camp, where Croatian prisoners were held during the war of the 1990s, and Croatian teams have refused to play there. According to the Italian agency Nova, the pool will be named after Petar II Petroviq Njegosh, while the government retroactively approved the plaque placed on Oct. 10, 2022, at the entrance of the former Morinj military facility, which will remain in the same place with the same inscription.
The step was made possible after Montenegro's Parliament last week amended the Law on Sport, requiring that at least 40 years have passed since a person's death before a sports facility can be named after them. According to Montenegrin media, the government stepped in after Kotor's municipal assembly failed to reach a majority to change the name itself.
Open issues
Croatia's other demands include the return of property confiscated from Croats, compensation for former Morinj prisoners, establishing the fate of the missing, ownership of the training ship “Jadran” and the maritime border at Prevlaka. Zagreb has blocked the provisional closing of Chapter 31 of the negotiations. Montenegro has provisionally closed 21 of 33 chapters and is aiming for EU membership in 2028.
