Government's press release regarding Daily Meal's claims that McDonald's was forbidden to conduct business in Montenegro

Podgorica, Montenegro (14 April 2014) – The claims published on "The Daily Meal" website on 9 April 2014, according to which the fast food chain McDonald's was supposedly forbidden to conduct business in Montenegro, are completely unfounded.

No company, not even the McDonald's, is "forbidden" to do business in Montenegro. On the contrary. All foreign investors in our country are subject to equal legal treatment as domestic investors. A foreign investor may establish a new company, invest or buy an existing one or invest in a part of the business.

The Government of Montenegro is not in charge of establishing businesses. The establishment and registration of companies in Montenegro are very simple and easy to understand. The process can be completed in four working days, and if an investor does not receive the registration confirmation, the company is considered to be automatically registered. These facts, along with a simple tax system providing a number of benefits and very competitive major tax rates compared to the countries of the region, indicates even to the laymen, that is, to those who are not familiar with foreign investments, the groundlessness of the claims published in The Daily News.

The claim about the alleged ban of the McDonald's is not surprising given that the only reference to The Daily Meal’s article is an article published in 2007, which set forth the claim. No source, act, document or anything that might even resemble the argument was not presented in the article, but it was mentioned as the source of the rumour twice. Moreover, as the explanation of the "alleged" Montenegro’s decision to "ban" the McDonald's, the article mentions the nonsense that “Montenegro has said no to McDonald’s to push back against globalisation." The truth is that since the time the claim was set forth, Montenegro has been leading the countries of the region towards the EU membership and it has found itself in front of the NATO’s gate. By making such an alleged “decision”, according to the article, "Montenegro also made a political statement regarding the involvement of the United States." Since the publication of the article, Montenegro and the United States have repeatedly emphasised in their official communiqués and in statements made by the two countries’ officials that the partnership is the basis of their political relations.

In other words, the only truth in The Daily Mail’s article is the photography. It is truly a landscape of Montenegro – the Bay of Kotor.

PUBLIC RELATIONS BUREAU OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO