Office of the Prime Minister: Pensions will increase, all other claims are misleading

In response to the misinformation circulating regarding the implementation of the "Europe Now 2" programme, particularly claims of pension reductions, the Office of the Prime Minister strongly denies these reports. To ensure accurate public information, we emphasise once again that the claim that future pensions will be lower is entirely false.

These misleading narratives are based on a calculation that assumes an employee's salary remains unchanged throughout their career (ignoring any potential salary increases due to years of service or economic trends), which is not even theoretically possible under current legal provisions.

Additionally, some media analyses of the government's policies present pension calculations based on only one parameter while deliberately overlooking other key factors. This suggests a biased and malicious attempt to misinform the public.

For example, with the apparent intent to deceive, these analyses focus on the annual personal coefficient as the sole factor in pension calculations, leading to the false implication that pensions for future retirees will decrease. These claims deliberately ignore two crucial factors: the length of service and the value of the personal point, both of which will undoubtedly increase as a result of this reform, driven by rising average salaries.

Moreover, pensions are adjusted three times a year through a legally mandated process that accounts for changes in average salaries and inflation, which impacts the value of the personal point. This important aspect has been omitted in the reports.

The pension calculation presented on the front page of a daily newspaper is, in fact, in direct violation of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance. The reported pension amount of €359.60 is below the legally mandated minimum pension of €450 in Montenegro, and pensions cannot fall below this threshold.

As the 44th Government announced during the increase of the minimum pension on 1 January of this year, following the introduction of the "Europe Now 2" programme, further increases in other categories of pensions will be a result of rising average salaries, with pensions adjusted accordingly based on this growth.

The concern expressed by the “anti-government coalition” over the increase in minimum and average salaries under the "Europe Now 2" programme is particularly striking, revealing their intention to revert to a time when the average salary in Montenegro grew by just €40 over a decade and pensions were adjusted by only a few euros annually.