CIN-CG: In the shadow of controversial references and party ties - who are the new members of the Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro?

Academic references, but also recent party affiliation Ismet Hadžić i Srdjan Milić, who were elected by the Parliament of Montenegro on December 31, 2025 as members of the Council of the Central Bank of Montenegro (CBCG), raise serious questions about their credibility and qualifications for the position: their degrees come from educational institutions that have been plagued by controversies over accreditation and academic integrity for years.

Research Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) showed that the parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Budget evaluated the references of members of the Council of one of the most important state institutions without actually reviewing the relevant documentation.

In addition to Hadžić and Milić, six other candidates were proposed for the election of four members of the Central Bank of Montenegro Council: Tamara Backovic, Hadži Vesna Vujošević, Suco Orahovac, Zarija Pejović, Brankica Mosurović i Mladen Bojanic. Mosurović and Hadži Vujošević withdrew their candidacies during the summer of last year. After that, the Committee held a consultative hearing of the remaining six candidates, and proposed Tamara Backović, Srđan Milić, Šućo Orahovac and Ismet Hadžić to the Assembly for election, which was adopted at the session on the last day of last year. Backović and Milić received the support of nine MPs, while Orahovac and Hadžić received eight votes. Candidates Zarija Pejović and Mladen Bojanić received only one vote each.

Ismet Hadžić was proposed as a candidate for a member of the Central Bank of Montenegro Council by a Bosniak Party (BS) MP. Mirsad Nurković, the party of which Hadžić was previously an official, while Srđana Milić was nominated by an MP from the Socialist People's Party (SNP) Sladjana Kaludjerovic, whose long-time president and representative was Milić. However, both announced that they were no longer in the parties.

The Parliamentary Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget conducted the procedure for electing members of the CBM Council according to previously established practice, according to which a member of the Committee, along with the candidate's proposal, submits only a CV from which it is assessed whether the candidate meets the requirements. However, candidates were not required to submit educational documents or any other evidence of qualifications.

THE FACULTY IN NOVI PAZAR WAS ONLY ACCREDITED MORE THAN A DECADE AFTER HADŽIĆ GRADUATED

According to a biography submitted to the Parliament and reviewed by CIN-CG, Ismet Hadžić studied at the Faculty of Management and Business Economics at the private International University in Novi Pazar from 2004 to 2008, in the Department of Business Economics, majoring in Management and Entrepreneurship, where he earned a degree in Economics with 240 ECTS credits. That educational institution did not have accreditation for a decade after Hadžić graduated, although, according to the Serbian Law on Higher Education, it was supposed to resolve this status by 2009.

The International University of Novi Pazar has been the subject of controversy for years. In 2016, the National Council for Higher Education of Serbia refused to accredit almost all study programs at the International University of Novi Pazar, citing, among other things, the problem with the teaching staff. According to the Serbian institution, until then, only English language and law had been accredited.

In Serbia, the Law on Higher Education was adopted in 2005, which, in order to ensure development and quality improvement, prescribed the obligation to accredit all higher education institutions. The accreditation process was carried out by the Commission for Accreditation and Quality Assurance of Higher Education Institutions and Units within them and Evaluation of Study Programmes (the Commission), which began operating in June 2006. This law stipulates that the procedure for accreditation and obtaining a license for the operation of higher education institutions that were legally operating before the adoption of this regulation shall be carried out within three years from the date of establishment of the Commission.

Only after the interventions of the Serbian Ministry of Education and the conclusion of the Serbian Government from June 2017, were the university's diplomas formally confirmed as valid until the completion of the accreditation process, while today the university's website can be found with a certificate of accreditation from 2024.

"I believe that when assessing the validity of any diploma, the only relevant factor is whether it has been recognized by the competent institutions. In my case, the diploma has undergone the legally prescribed recognition procedure in Montenegro, which confirmed its legal validity. Any controversies about the reputation of individual institutions cannot be grounds for challenging a diploma that has been formally recognized by the competent state body," Hadžić told CIN-CG.

That formal recognition of a diploma does not automatically close all questions about its credibility is also shown by recent decisions by the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI), which in September 2025 suspended the recognition of diplomas from eight regional higher education institutions, due to the protection of public interest and quality standards in higher education.

Hadžić also stated in his biography that he worked as a teacher of the economics subject group, an accountant, an insurance associate, a manager of the financial and accounting department in the Rožaje utility company, then the secretary of the Secretariat for Finance and Economic Development of the Municipality of Rožaje, and as his current position he listed the position of secretary of the Secretariat for Planning and Spatial Development of the Municipality of Rožaje.

He also highlighted training in EU project preparation, project management and accounting, while in his biography he listed passive knowledge of the English language in all three categories: comprehension, speaking and writing.

MILIĆ'S DOCTORATE CONTAINS IDENTICAL PARTS OF A PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED WORK, WITHOUT REFERENCE IN THE BIBLIOGRAPHY

Milić, the second member of the CBCG Council, according to his biography submitted to the Parliament of Montenegro, graduated from the esteemed Faculty of Tourism and Foreign Trade in Dubrovnik in the former SFRY, where he graduated with a degree in “Primary and Secondary Money Issuance”. He received his doctorate from the Belgrade Banking Academy, within the private Union University, where he defended his dissertation “The Impact of Fiscal Consolidation on Macroeconomic Performance - the Example of Montenegro” on July 15, 2021.

However, CIN-CG's insight into Srđan Milić's publicly available doctoral dissertation, which can be found on the official website of Union University, shows similarities with his earlier work "Fiscal Consolidation: Basic Aspects and Comparative Analysis", which was published in December 2020 in the scientific journal of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade "Economic Ideas and Practice", however, he does not cite it anywhere as a reference or in the bibliography in the dissertation itself, which is an academic obligation.

They appear in Milić's work and in his doctorate the same or almost the same paragraphs, the same argumentation, and a similar chapter structure. For example, in a 2020 article, Milić writes that “Alesina and Peroti have shown that successful consolidations are predominantly based on wage cuts and social transfers,” and the dissertation repeats an almost identical formulation.

An even more visible overlap concerns the section on political cycles. The dissertation, on pages 148–149, states: “In this way, governments often try to minimize the potential loss of voters... In fact, no serious fiscal consolidation program can be implemented without leaving at least some of these three components intact: public sector wages and employment, pensions and social transfers... Therefore, fiscal consolidation programs are often launched in the first or possibly second year after the election...”.

A similar set of formulations can be seen in Milić's 2020 paper, with a similar logic, theses arrangement, and the same authors cited. That paper also contains almost the same sentence about "Hansjörg and the fact that the majority of fiscal consolidation programs were implemented within one year of the election," which then appears almost verbatim in the dissertation.

This is just a part of the completely identical sentences that are repeated in two of Milić's works.

In the dissertation itself, Milić states that it is the result of his independent research work and that the references used are clearly stated.

In academic practice, an interlocutor from the University of Montenegro (UCG), who asked to remain anonymous, explains to CIN-CG, there is a debate about where the legitimate publication of parts of work during the preparation of a doctoral thesis ends and where self-plagiarism begins.

According to him, an article published during the preparation of a dissertation can represent the introductory or theoretical part of a doctoral thesis, especially if the previous publication of part of the research was a condition for the defense. However, he points out that in this case, the problem is that nowhere in the dissertation itself is it stated that part of the text was previously published as a separate work, nor is that work cited as a reference in the bibliography.

According to the Academic Integrity Act, autoplagiarism is copying one's own text in part or in full without citing the original source and presenting it as a completely new work. Paraphrasing without reference is, according to the same law, taking the entire meaning or individual ideas of another's text without citing the source.

Milić did not respond to CIN-CG's questions until the publication of this research.

Official data from Union University and the National Accreditation Body in Serbia show that the Belgrade Banking Academy is an accredited member of Union University, which was part of the "Doctorates" affair in Serbia and the subject of serious public questions about academic integrity, including the way it handled the disputed doctoral dissertation of the current mayor of Belgrade for years. Aleksandar Šapić, who received his doctorate in 2012 from Union University's School of Business and Industrial Management.

Professors from Union University were also mentioned in the case of the disputed doctorate of the current Serbian Minister of Finance. Siniše Malog, because some of them participated in the committee that assessed that his work was not plagiarized to the extent that it would justify challenging it. This assessment was later contested by the Board of Professional Ethics of the University of Belgrade, and the Senate of that university subsequently annulled the doctorate.

Back in 2015, “Truth Teller”" announced that a commission formed by Union University had determined that more than half of Šapić's work had been plagiarized, but the process then reached a dead end: the commission ceased its work, and the university failed to form a new one for years. “Danas” wrote in 2022 that even after seven and a half years, Union University had failed to complete its investigation into the plagiarism allegations, further raising questions about the institution's ability to consistently protect academic standards when it comes to politically exposed candidates.

Milić stated in his biography that he received special awards at all levels of education, that he has published several scientific papers in economics and finance, and that he has 17 years of parliamentary experience and five terms in the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, along with participation in numerous domestic and international conferences dedicated to economic and financial issues.

ELECTED DESPITE LEGAL RESTRICTIONS

The Law on the Central Bank of Montenegro stipulates that a member of the Council cannot be a member of a political organization, nor a person who performs a function or duty in local self-government bodies.

During the hearing on July 1, 2025, Srđan Milić openly said that he "was and remains an SNP member", which was also reported by the Montenegrin media, while Hadžić, as can be seen from the document he sent to CIN-CG, was also involved in the party, in the Bosniak Party, until March 20, 2025.

Šućo Orahovac, also one of the newly elected members of the CBCG Council, was politically active as a member of the Europe Now Movement (PES), right up until his candidacy for the Council. He was a member of the Podgorica committee of this party. He was also nominated by his party colleagues from PES: Tonći Janović, Drazen Petrić i Seid Hadzic. Orahovac completed his master's degree in finance at the prestigious Bocconi University in Milan, where he worked as an associate in 2009. He gained experience at Hipotekarna Banka, the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare, the Capital City of Podgorica, etc.

Tamara Backović is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Montenegro. She began her career at the faculty as a teaching associate in 2004. She has also been involved in numerous economic projects and research. She was one of the members of the team that created a model for predicting bankruptcy of Montenegrin private companies.

During the 77th session of the Committee on Economy, Finance and Budget, at the end of July 2025, a member of parliament from the ruling PES Janović said that additional consultations are needed within the ruling majority, making it clear that the decision is being made based on political agreements rather than the candidates' competencies.

President of the Committee for Economy, Finance and Budget Boris Mugoša He warned that the selection criteria were imprecise and that the law needed to be changed.

"This process is deeply politicized, as evidenced by the fact that three out of four elected members were party officials, as well as the fact that the committee's statement on the proposed candidates was postponed for months after the hearing was completed at the request of the majority. The public witnessed at the plenum the inadequate competencies of some elected members of the CBCG Council, as well as the obvious inter-coalition trading of positions that was behind all this," Mugoša (Social Democrats) told CIN-CG, appealing to the majority MPs not to interrupt the good practice that existed in parliament, which is that at least one out of four members of the CBCG Council be appointed upon a coordinated proposal by the opposition.

According to him, the Law on the Central Bank of Montenegro should be amended to clearly define that members of the Central Bank of Montenegro Council are elected based on a public call, with stricter criteria, and not that they are proposed by MPs, as has been the long-standing practice in parliament.

The European Commission (EC) emphasized in its 2025 Report for Montenegro that appointments to the Central Bank of Montenegro Council must be transparent, based on competencies and free from party influence.

Neither Nurković nor Kaluđerović responded to CIN-CG's question about whether they believed their proposals for members of the Central Bank of Montenegro were in line with EC guidelines, given that they were choosing their previous party colleagues.