Montenegro's Government defines measures towards pursuing structural reforms in education, labour, health care

Kolašin, Montenegro (8 March 2014) – Montenegro's Government completed late this afternoon in Kolašin its thematic, two-day session on intensifying structural reforms in the areas of education, labour and social welfare, and health care. The second part of the session was attended by members of the parliament from the ruling coalition in order to get acquainted with the government's policies for effective implementation of reforms aimed at more dynamic development of the country.

All participants in today's discussions pledged strong support for the reform activities proposed by the Government and agreed that such a method of work makes a contribution to better understanding and more efficient adoption of major decisions.

Today's session was focused on adopting conclusions tasking the competent institutions to draft necessary regulations and undertake the agreed reform actions.

Concerning Montenegro's health system, the Cabinet concluded that, apart from a considerable progress that has been made in terms of infrastructure and technology, an adequate quality level of health services has not been achieved yet. Therefore, it is most urgent to adopt the new Law on Health Care, which envisages the establishment of eight health centres and easier access to health care services, the Cabinet agreed. Implementation of the long-term reforms will enable patients to choose services in public and private institutions under the same conditions. Furthermore, the introduction of additional inspection measures and evaluation of health care institutions will also contribute to boosting level of health care services, the cabinet concluded.

When it comes to pursuing reforms in education, it is essential to conduct external evaluation of all institutions of high education with a view to determining actual quality of knowledge they provide. In parallel, intensive efforts will be made towards questioning the notification of a great number of graduate diplomas coming from the faculties with suspicious reputation. Particular emphasis will be put on high education's harmonisation with the labour market's needs, the meeting underlined.

In the sector of labour and social welfare, it is crucial to conclude the general collective agreement in order to fully enforce the Labour Law, which will contribute to increasing the flexibility of the labour market and to creating new jobs. The Government recognised the issue of the pension system sustainability as a major problem in this area. Therefore, the Labour Ministry is tasked to draft amendments to the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, with the aim of reducing the deficit and defining mechanisms for making Montenegro's pension system financially sustainable.