Exodus From North Causes Concern in Montenegro

Montenegro's government has been urged to reveal how many Montenegrins are fleeing the north of the country and seeking asylum in Western Europe because of poor living conditions and unemployment.

An official from the country's junior ruling Social Democratic Party, Damir Sehovic, on Tuesday said the growing problem of mass migation from the the north should be a priority for parliament, which is why he was calling for an an urgent debate.

He said local NGOs had assessed that about 3,500 people had left five towns in the north over the past four months, which was worrying.

The opposition Socialist People's Party has also demanded an immediate reaction from the government.

The party claimed that poverty and the absence of basic conditions for a dignified life was forcing thousands of people to seek salvation far from their homes.

Euromost, an NGO from the northern town of Bijelo Polje, the town most affected by migration, says more than 1,500 people left the north of Montenegro in the last month.

Hundreds of others have also left the towns of Rozaje, Berane and Pljevlja. Most of them have gone to Germany and Luxembourg, trying to obtain economic asylum, which they are unlikely to obtain.

After the expiration of the three-month period, which is how long they can legally remain in these European countries, they refuse to return and instead stay on illegally, the NGO said.

Montenegro has an unemployment rate of 15 per cent. But the jobless rate in the north of the country is higher, according to estimates. A third of the jobless are university graduates under 30 years of age.

The average monthly salary in the country is around 490 euro, but, according to recent data from the Tax...