DPS requests a control hearing of Đeljošaj, Vuković, Gutić and Drobnjak on the topic of pensioners' living standards

The Democratic Party of Socialists MPs' Club initiated a control hearing of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development Niko Đeljošaj, Minister of Finance Novica Vuković, Minister of Social Welfare, Family Care and Demography Damir Gutić and Director of the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund Vladimir Drobnjak, on the topic: "The impact of price increases on the living standards of pensioners in Montenegro", and the initiative was supported and signed by MPs from the European Union Boris Mugoša and the Civic Movement URA Miloš Konatar.

This was announced by the head of that parliamentary group, Andrija Nikolić, at a press conference held in the Parliament.

As he stated, the hearing was initiated because there is a justified concern that the living standards of the oldest population may be seriously impaired.

"I address the public exclusively in the language of official data — data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, the Statistical Office of Montenegro (MONSTAT), Eurostat and the World Health Organization. No politics. Just numbers. According to official data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, the average pension in Montenegro is around 553 euros. Should I remind you of the government's false promise that from January 1, 2026, the average pension in Montenegro will be 600 euros. Or should I remind you of how they equated those who have paid contributions to the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund for 40 years with these others who have paid contributions for 15 years," he said, adding that the minimum pension is 450 euros, and according to data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, around 47.332 pensioners receive it.

NIkolic pointed out that, at the same time, 112.517 pensioners receive a pension below the average salary, which according to MONSTAT is around 1.014 euros.

"This means that around 117.000 pensioners living in Montenegro receive incomes far below the average wage in this country. And what happened to the purchasing power of those pensions? According to official MONSTAT data, aggregate inflation in Montenegro from 2021 to 2024 is more than 30 percent. According to Eurostat, inflation in Montenegro in 2025 is 3,9 percent — almost twice as high as inflation in the European Union, which is 2,3 percent. So much for the authorities' allegations that inflation in Montenegro is imported from the EU. The prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, health services and housing are recording continuous growth, quarter after quarter, according to official MONSTAT statements," he said.

"And how did the government respond to that growth? Pensions were adjusted by 0,38 percent in January 2026 and by 0,95 percent in May 2026. These are the official data from the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund. The total increase in 2026 is 1,33 percent. Inflation is 3,9 percent. The difference is minus 2,57 percent. Every year, pensioners are poorer in real terms. Every year they buy less. Every year the government tells them that this is progress," Nikolić added.

He said that, in euros, the January adjustment brought a pensioner receiving the minimum pension an increase of about 1,71 euros, and the May adjustment about 4,3 euros.

"In total, in six months — less than six euros. Six euros. That's the price of half a kilogram of veal in a Montenegrin supermarket. That's not harmonisation. That's an insult to the people who spent forty years building this country," he pointed out.

According to him, the health dimension of this problem is of particular concern.

"According to a World Health Organization study published in April 2025, almost every tenth household in Montenegro — exactly 9 percent — spends a catastrophic share of their income on healthcare. That percentage is higher than in most European Union countries. Pensioners are the most vulnerable category. Medicines that are not on the positive list are becoming a luxury that no one living on 450 euros can afford. A pensioner who has diabetes, heart disease or hypertension has to choose between food and medicine every month," he said.

As he pointed out, DPS is making two clear demands to the Government.

"First: urgent change in the pension adjustment model. Adjustment must follow the real increase in the prices of food, medicines and utilities, and not the general inflation rate that masks the real jump in the costs of pensioner life. We demand the introduction of a special pensioner consumer basket as a legal basis for adjustment. Second: urgent expansion of the positive list of medicines and the abolition of administrative barriers that prevent pensioners from exercising their right to free medicines. According to the World Health Organization, medicines and medical products are the main cause of catastrophic health spending in Montenegro."

Nikolić said that "these are not political demands."

"These are demands dictated by elementary social justice and what official data clearly shows. The government has a parliamentary majority. It has a budget that records, as they say, record revenues. It has all the tools. What it lacks is the political will to use them for those who built this country. A society that agrees to let its oldest citizens choose between food and medicine has no right to talk about economic prosperity. It is a society of social neglect. And that neglect has an address: the Government of Montenegro," he concluded.