Montenegro Albanian Official Says Discrimination Remains Rife

The ethnic Albanian vice-president of the Montenegrin parliament, Genci Nimanbegu, has claimed that Albanians, who make up about 5 per cent of the  country's population, remain discriminated against in the public sector, pointing as an example to the small multi-ethnic municipalities of Plav and Gusinje.

The official of the Forca Albanian party, which is part of the state-level ruling coalition, says there are no ethnic Albanian employees in several institutions in the two municipalities, despite Albanians making up a significant percentage of the local population.

"So far, these institutions don't have a plan or a proposal on how to improve the clear discrimination against Albanians in Plav and Gusinje. This discrimination must be eliminated and we will provide the information to ministers and directors of administrations," Nimanbegu said on Monday.

Nimanbegu said no ethnic Albanians worked for the local Border Police, Basic Court, Prosecutor's Office, Misdemeanor Court, the Employment Service, Center for Social Work, Tax Administration, Real Estate Directorate, Post Office or nearby Prokletije national park.

Nimanbegu cited a Ministry of Human and Minority Rights survey from 2015, which said ethnic Albanians make up only 1.8 percent of the workforce in the state administration in the country, far below their percentage in the population.

"I am looking for an institutional agreement [on the problem], not for an agreement that will employ several Albanians based on a political agreement," Nimanbegu said.

Albanians are not the only minority in the country feeling aggrieved. The President of the Serbian National Council, SNS, Momcilo Vukasnovic, said in May that Serbs are also under-represented in the state administration.  Under...