In nine ministries of the Government of Montenegro, from November 1, 2023 to September 1, 2024, a total of EUR 1.172.097,23 was paid for the travel expenses of civil servants. On this basis, the most was spent in the Ministry of Defense - EUR 595.570,27 and the Ministry of Internal Affairs - EUR 473.498,64.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not submit the total amount spent in this period, but if it is taken into account that Filip Ivanovic, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, now Vice President of the Government for Foreign and European Affairs, took 13.809,93 euros from the coffers for per diems, it can be concluded that diplomacy in terms of travel expenses is on the same level as the police or the army.
In the last two months of 2023, Ivanovic spent 2.907,57 euros on travel, and the rest in 2024, until the moment when, after the reconstruction of the Government, he moved to the vice-presidential position. The biggest item on the travel orders of Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials are, however, hotel bills. Ivanović, for example, was paid EUR 1 by travel order for his stay in Vienna from November 3 to 653,60 last year. Of that sum, the bill for the hotel amounted to 508 euros. The situation is similar during his stay in Brussels from November 12 to 15. In the headquarters of the EU administration, however, the hotel is a bit more expensive, so the then Minister of Foreign Affairs paid a bill of 802 euros for accommodation. The travel order for the trip to Brussels was 1.046,32 euros.
In the period from July 23, when he was appointed as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, to September 1, Ervin Ibrahimovic, according to travel orders, traveled only to Istanbul and for that purpose withdrew 183,75 euros.
In this ministry, there were 49 travel orders in 2023 and another 189 in the current year.
In this period, the Ministry of Defense spent 595.570,27 euros on travel expenses. According to the submitted documentation, Dragan Krapović, the Minister of Defense, traveled very little. On the basis of seven travel orders, he was paid 904,19 euros, and, for example, Brigadier General Zoran Lazarević, to the Chief of the General Staff, almost four times more - 3.326,50 euros.
In the records of the Ministry of Defense, from which it is not clear who traveled where, under a separate item, travel orders under the headings "expenses for defense" and payments abroad" are entered. From the documentation, it cannot be concluded in whose name these travel orders refer.
From November 1, 2023 to September 1, 2024, the Ministry of Energy paid out a total of 5.058,79 euros based on per diems for official trips in the country and abroad. Of that sum, 2023 euros were paid in 794,02, and another 4.204,77 euros this year.
Minister Saša Mujović in this period, he had 14 travel orders based on which he was paid 1.372,86 euros. Mujović traveled around Montenegro and abroad, but from the documents forwarded it is not clear what destinations they were.
Maida Gorčevič, Minister of European Affairs, immediately after her appointment in November last year, traveled first to Belgrade, then to North Macedonia, four times, as stated, to Belgium and once to Brussels. For these trips, Minister Gorčević withdrew 869,42 euros from the treasury. In the current year, the minister had, according to travel orders, 11 trips, for which she was paid 1.301,32 euros.
In 2023 and 2024, the Ministry of European Affairs spent 19.166,86 euros on official travel expenses.
Marash Dukaj, Minister of Public Administration, in 2023 she has only two travel orders, one to Paris (171,50) and one to Budva (18,00). In this year, Dukaj was, at least according to travel orders, in Pristina (130,00), Paris (440,51), Geneva (505,00), Budapest (155,40) and Plav (9,00). He withdrew a total of 1.428,90 euros from the cash register.
In this period, the Ministry of Public Administration had 301 travel orders.
They were at the head of the Ministry of Transport in this period Filip Radulović and current minister Maja Vukićević who was elected to this position after the reconstruction of the Government, on July 23 of this year.
During his time, Radulović had only three trips abroad, to Sarajevo (101,50), Skopje (78,40) and Brussels (292,32). He traveled a lot more in Montenegro and charged daily wages from 9 to 18 euros for that. On that basis, he collected 252,00 euros.
After arriving at the Ministry, Maja Vukićević traveled to Bar, Kolašin and Cetinje, but did not receive daily allowances. She received 21 euros for going to Plav on August 9 of this year.
The Ministry of Transport paid out a total of 18.417,37 euros.
According to the data submitted by the Ministry for Human and Minority Rights, 11.681,36 euros were spent on daily wages in this period. Unfortunately, the documentation does not show who the travel orders were addressed to, so it is not known how much of this sum belongs to the minister Fatmir Đeku. Per diems were paid for trips to New York, Geneva, Malta, Lisbon and some other foreign destinations, but also for going to cities in Montenegro.
The Ministry of Justice paid out EUR 2023 in 6.057,53 based on travel orders, and another EUR 2024 in 18.678,14. It is interesting that among those who received daily wages in 2023, there is no minister of that time Andrej Milović who either did not travel or did not collect per diems. Milović, who was relieved of his duties during the reconstruction of the Government on July 23, in 2024 collected per diems exclusively for trips abroad in the amount of 1.695,26 euros, whereby the trip to the USA accounted for 719,04 euros.
Milović's successor, Bojan Božović, according to the received documentation, he did not have any travel orders from July 23 to October 20 of this year.
Vladimir Martinovic, now the former Minister of Tourism, signed his first travel order after the election, on December 4, 2023, for a trip to Dubai and on that occasion received daily allowances in the amount of 572,25 euros. It is probably the 28th conference of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which was held from December 7 to 11, 2023 in Dubai.
Even the first travel order in 2024 was no less exclusive because Minister Martinović traveled to the USA and for that purpose withdrew 729,40 euros from the treasury. Martinović traveled to New York for the Tourism Fair and on that occasion, as reported, he met with the Montenegrin diaspora in the United States of America (USA).
He then traveled to Slovenia, Berlin, Athens, Vienna and twice to Budapest, for which he collected 1.237,25 euros in per diems.
His heiress Simonida Kordić started much more modestly, at least as far as traveling is concerned. From July 23, when she was elected, for the next month she traveled only to Loznica, in neighboring Serbia, and to "HN", as written in the report of the Ministry of Tourism, which could represent Herceg Novi. Those two travel orders brought her 164,00 euros in per diem.
The Ministry of Tourism, in which over 500 travel orders were signed in this period, did not specify in the submitted documentation how much was spent on this item.
In the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights, in this period, 11.681.36 euros were spent on travel, but the submitted report does not show in whose name the travel orders were made.
It is noted that New York is one of the most visited destinations abroad for this ministry. For the city on the east coast of the Atlantic, on November 21, 2023, seven travel orders were written for, most likely, four people. He traveled to New York again on March 1, 2024 with two travel orders for 674,10 euros each, and then on March 5, when two travel orders of 500 and 174 euros were written. At that time, the media announced that the Minister of Human and Minority Rights, Fatmir Đeka, would participate in the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which was held in New York from March 11 to 22.
Geneva is not far behind New York. On the basis of eight travel orders, filed on May 14, 2024, EUR 1.058,10 was paid, and it can only be assumed, since it is not specified in the submitted documentation, that this is the delegation of Montenegro that presented on May 8, 2023 , in Geneva, its National Report on the State of Human Rights within the fourth cycle of the General Periodic State of Human Rights in the Member States of the United Nations.
In the Ministry of Culture and Media, EUR 11.936,97 was spent on travel orders in the indicated period. Minister Tamara Vujović she attended the opening of the Biennale in Venice, then, together with the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Andjelom Jakšić Stojanović, went to Abu Dhabi, to the UNESCO World Conference on Culture and Art Education, which was held from February 13 to 15, 2024. Vujović also visited France, where she signed the Agreement on financing the re-establishment of a joint permanent exhibition in Block 17 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum.
Based on travel orders, Tamara Vujović spent a total of 1.875,36 euros on her travels.
In these nine months, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property paid out 12.035,94 euros based on travel orders. Janko Odović, the line minister until July 23 of this year, withdrew 1.362,75 euros from the travel fund. He stayed, among other places, in Venice (281,75), Paris (343,00), Belgrade (221,20) and Brussels (162,00).
His successor, Slaven Radunović, from the reconstruction of the Government until September 1, according to travel orders, he traveled only to Belgrade with a travel order for 110,60 euros.
The Ministry of Finance did not send data on the total travel expenses of this department, but that is why it stated in the table, without accompanying documentation, as requested, that the minister Novica Vuković from November 1, 2023 to July 22, 2024, he traveled abroad a total of 11 times, on the basis of which he was paid 3.435,10 euros. The Minister of Finance was in Vienna, Panama, Rome, Washington, Armenia, Moldova, China, Spain, Skopje and Brussels.
"News" got this information with the help of the MANS application "Ask the institutions".
Milatović and Spajić are silent
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management conditioned the sending of the answer on the payment of 134,99 euros for the "costs of the procedure", i.e. scanning, copying and delivery of the shipment by post. MANS filed a complaint because of this attitude of the Ministry, which deviates from the procedure of the majority of departments in the Government of Montenegro, which sent the requested data in electronic form, without additional costs.
The complaint due to the administration's silence was filed against the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Dialogue, as well as the General Secretariat of the President of Montenegro, the Cabinet of the President of the Government of Montenegro.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Public Administration did not specify the total amount of paid per diems, and the Ministry of Education submitted illegible documentation from which data on travel orders and paid per diems could not be discerned.
Daily allowance for USA 112,35 euros
In the Regulation on reimbursement of expenses of employees in the public sector, which was adopted by the Government of Montenegro in 2016, it is stated that during an official trip abroad, the employee is entitled to a daily allowance, compensation for the cost of accommodation with breakfast and compensation for the cost of transportation abroad.
Per diem for official travel in the country belongs to the employee in the amount of 20 percent of the calculation value of the coefficient determined by the Government of Montenegro.
The amounts of daily allowances for official travel abroad are determined in the List of countries with the corresponding amount of daily allowances, which is given in the Annex that is part of this regulation.
For example, the daily allowance for a trip to the USA is 112,35 euros, to Serbia - 55,3 euros, Croatia - 63 euros, Belgium - 82,2 euros, Italy - 80,5 euros...
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