Montenegro summit triggers European traffic chaos

A European journalist recounted a frustrating experience traveling to Tivat, Montenegro, for the EU-Western Balkans Summit. The journey from Croatia, which should have been straightforward, turned into a six-hour ordeal due to unexpected road closures and a non-operational ferry. The journalist, initially choosing a shorter route via Dubrovnik, found the ferry across the Bay of Kotor was not running "for security reasons," forcing a lengthy detour around the bay.

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If you read these lines, I may already be back home in Brussels. Or maybe not. Maybe I'm vegetating, unwashed and smelling like an old jar of sauerkraut, in my rental car before a roadblock by the Montenegrin police.

Concentrating on navigating the narrow, two-lane coastal road with oncoming traffic, the journalist reached Kotor without major incident. However, police then blocked all access roads to Tivat for arriving government delegations, also citing "security reasons." This led to a standstill, trapping the journalist in their rental car for hours.

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I hope to arrive in time for Montenegro's EU accession in 2048.

Cut off from updates via WhatsApp due to high roaming costs, the journalist eventually found solace in a restaurant in Kotor, enjoying pasta and Wi-Fi. The traffic jam finally cleared around 1:15 AM, after the heads of state had finished their dinner. The journalist arrived at their destination just minutes later, reflecting on the value of five hours of sleep in a less-than-ideal setting. The next morning, a police officer directed the journalist on a "procedural" detour to the press center.

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Procedura