Montenegrin Statistical Office

Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia are not likely to be affected economically by a ban on food imports imposed by Belarus, which starts on January 1.

Although not part of the EU, they have joined recent increased EU and Western sanctions on Belarus, imposed over the migrant crisis at the Polish border, for which Minsk is blamed.

Montenegrin government session in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro

"The Montenegrin Statistical Office will hold the census of Montenegrin citizens and of foreigners living in Montenegro who have permanent or temporary residence in Montenegro. Among other things, data on ethnicity, language and religion will be collected," the draft law proposal says.

Montenegrin trade unions representing the health, education, defence and army sectors agreed on Wednesday to hold a street protest on December 6 after the government announced cuts to the public sector wage bill in the 2015 budget.  

Montenegro published its draft budget bill for 2015, which includes cutting 7.3 million euro off the public-sector wage bill compared to 2014, reducing the figure to 380 million euros.

It comes after the cabinet last week set the 2015 budget at around 1.9 billion euros.