Montenegro President Jakov Milatović has asked Prime Minister Milojko Spajić’s government for comprehensive fiscal and economic analyses of its Euro model, a long-term assessment of pension-system sustainability and consultations with social partners. In a letter to Spajić, he said reforms should be based on reliable analysis and remain financially sustainable.
The government presented the Euro model by adopting a package of laws in September 2026. Milatović said the package was not accompanied by a publicly available assessment of its fiscal impact or comprehensive multi-year projections for the state budget, the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund and local government budgets.
He also said the public had not been given an adequate economic analysis of the measures’ effects on competitiveness, price growth and the labour market. As a result, in his view, citizens could not properly assess the package’s costs, risks and distributional consequences.
According to the president, the Ministry of Finance of Montenegro did not support the package, and the Fiscal Council had not issued a legally binding opinion on it. He proposed that the government prepare and publish a full fiscal-impact assessment and accompanying economic analysis, with assumptions clearly set out and the effects of individual measures and the package as a whole quantified.
Milatović also proposed giving the Fiscal Council complete information so it could issue a formal, public and data-based opinion on the fiscal effects of the proposed legislation. He said the process should follow the Law on Budget and Fiscal Responsibility.
The Euro model is not identified in the Fiscal Strategy, the Economic Reform Programme or the Public Financial Management Reform Programme, Milatović said. He argued that its absence raised questions about the reliability of the economic and fiscal information Montenegro provides to the European Union.
Milatović said Montenegro was closer to European Union membership than ever before, and that progress towards accession should be accompanied by stronger institutions, responsible public policies and consistent fulfilment of commitments. Reforms of this scale, he wrote, require reliable fiscal and economic analysis, expert and institutional scrutiny, and inclusive consultation.
Pension funding and social dialogue
A central part of the request concerns the consequences of completely abolishing pension and disability insurance contributions. Milatović warned that ending them would fundamentally change the existing model of pension financing and the economic nature of the system.
He described the proposed change as a fundamental restructuring of pension funding that would raise questions about the system’s long-term institutional and financial architecture, accrued pension rights, how those rights would be financed and the state’s responsibility to guarantee regular pension payments. The president asked for a comprehensive, independent and long-term actuarial assessment of the pension system’s sustainability in a scenario where contributions were fully abolished.
That assessment, he proposed, should be published and subject to expert and public discussion before any legislative change removed existing revenue sources for pension financing. The requested review would examine the effects of that specific scenario, alongside the broader fiscal and economic analysis of the Euro model.
Milatović also proposed opening consultations with relevant social partners so final legislation would emerge from an inclusive process that takes account of different social and economic interests. He said consultation was not only good administrative practice but a constitutional obligation and an important condition for the legitimacy, quality and long-term sustainability of reforms.
The president said the lack of substantive consultation was difficult to reconcile with social dialogue, participatory policymaking and the institutional accountability Montenegro needs to strengthen during its European Union accession process. He proposed involving the Union of Employers of Montenegro, the Chamber of Economy of Montenegro, representative trade union organisations and the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro.
Milatović said the goal of improving citizens’ living standards and raising wages “has my full support”. He added that the common objective should also be to preserve public-finance stability and the long-term sustainability of Montenegro’s economic system.
In his view, reforms should be financially sustainable, institutionally grounded and based on reliable analysis, with transparency and respect for institutional procedures. He stressed the responsibility involved because the consequences would extend beyond the current government’s term.
