Official travel costs of members of Parliament exceed 1 million euros: Nearly €213,000 spent in six months

Official travel by members of the 28th parliamentary convocation of the Parliament of Montenegro has cost taxpayers more than 1 million euros since the convocation was constituted in late July 2023, while systematic information on the results of those trips is still not readily available to the public, the Centre for Civic Education said.

According to their analysis, a total of €1,010,904.70 was spent on 888 official trips from the beginning of the current parliamentary convocation through the end of June 2026.

- During the first six months of 2026 alone, 181 official trips were recorded, including 164 abroad and 17 within Montenegro, with total costs amounting to €212,769.87. When these are added to the 707 trips analysed previously, which cost €798,134.83 through the end of 2025, the total comes to 888 trips and more than €1 million in expenditure since the beginning of the current parliamentary convocation - the NGO said.

They note that these figures confirm that official travel represents a significant budget item for the Parliament of Montenegro, while also pointing to a pronounced concentration of both travel and expenditure among a relatively small number of MPs, with little information available about the impact and results of those trips.

Pejović had the highest costs, Camaj the most trips

During the first six months of this year, the highest individual expenditure was incurred by Jevrosima Pejović, an MP from the Special Parliamentary Club, whose 11 trips cost €19,876.96, according to the Centre for Civic Education.

- One trip was to Budva, while ten were abroad - to Washington, Vienna, Tbilisi, Budapest, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Strasbourg, Rome and Yerevan – they said.

She was followed by Nikola Camaj of the Albanian Forum, whose 16 trips cost €12,765.80.

- Camaj also had the highest number of recorded official trips among all MPs - 15 abroad, including to Strasbourg, Pristina, Budapest, Zagreb, Paris, Vienna, Skopje, Kristiansand, Tallinn, the Vatican and Istanbul, and one within Montenegro, to Budva - the data show.

Eight official trips by Europe Now Movement MP Nađa Laković cost €11,598.37, while five trips by president of the Civic Movement URA Dritan Abazović cost €11,345.10.

- When it comes to the average cost per trip, Dritan Abazović had the highest figure, at €2,269.02. He was followed by Edina Dešić with €1,896.94, Jevrosima Pejović with €1,807, Gordan Stojović with €1,679.57 and Nađa Laković with €1,449.80 per trip - the Centre for Civic Education added.

Other MPs with the highest travel costs include Europe Now Movement MP Gordan Stojović, who spent €10,077.43 on six trips, and Bosniac Party MP Edina Dešić, whose five trips cost €9,484.70.

Although Nikola Camaj had the highest number of trips in this group, he had the lowest average cost, at €797.86 per trip.

From zero to nearly €20,000 in travel costs

At the other end of the scale, among MPs who travelled, Branislav Nenezić of the European Alliance had one recorded trip to Budva with no expenses reported.

Two trips by Europe Now Movement Darko Dragović, also to Budva, cost just €28.80.

- Parliament Speaker Andrija Mandić had two trips recorded by the Parliament during the first six months - to Monaco and Ljubljana - at a cost of €358.26. One trip by Democratic Party of Socialists MP Nela Savković Vukčević to Nicosia cost €368, while a trip by Bosniac Party MP Kenana Strujić-Harbić to Sarajevo cost €395.72 - the CCE said.

Trips by Democratic Party of Socialists MP Abaz Dizdarević and Europe Now Movement MP Miloš Pižurica to Nicosia cost €512 each.

Europe Now Movement ranks first in total expenditure

Broken down by parliamentary caucus, the largest amount during the first half of 2026 was spent on travel by Europe Now Movement MPs - €38,628.46 for 31 trips, accounting for slightly more than 18% of the total official travel costs of all MPs during the period analysed.

- Of this amount, 30% relates to Nađa Laković’s trips, while slightly more than a quarter relates to Gordan Stojović’s trips. Bosniac Party follows with 21 trips costing €28,116.07, more than a third of which relates to Edina Dešić’s travel - according to CCE data.

A total of €22,987.52 was spent on 27 trips by MPs from the New Serbian Democracy, with around 30% of that amount relating to Dejan Đurović’s travel.

- Democratic Party of Socialists MPs made 20 trips, costing €22,597.91, with around 30% of that amount relating to Ivan Vuković’s travel - the statement added.

The Special Parliamentary Club made 14 trips at a cost of €21,467.12, with as much as 92.6% of that amount relating to Jevrosima Pejović’s travel.

Eleven trips by MPs from the Civic Movement URA cost €20,986.69, of which 54% relates to Dritan Abazović’s travel.

Democrats MPs made 18 trips, costing €20,832.34, with one-third of the expenditure relating to Duško Stijepović’s travel.

The Albanian Forum made 20 trips, costing €14,947.49, with more than 85% of that amount relating to Nikola Camaj’s travel.

The European Alliance spent €9,999 on 11 trips, more than two-thirds of which related to Nikola Zirojević’s travel.

Three trips by MPs from the Socialist People's Party - CIVIS caucus cost €4,142.89, with 85% of the expenditure relating to Maja Vučelić’s travel.

Two trips by Adrijan Vuksanović (Croatian Civic Initiative) cost €3,254.99, while one trip by Vladislav Bojović of the Democratic People’s Party cost €1,690.34. These also represent the total official travel expenditure of the two caucuses during the period analysed.

What was achieved through these trips?

The CCE believes that more than €212,000 spent on official travel in just six months, as well as more than €1 million during the current parliamentary convocation, requires a significantly higher level of transparency regarding the purpose and results of those trips.

The problem, it says, is that the public does not have a systematic and easily accessible way to determine why the trips were undertaken, what was specifically accomplished and what benefit Montenegro derived from them.

- Official travel is a legitimate and necessary part of parliamentary work, particularly in the areas of international cooperation, European integration and parliamentary diplomacy. However, every official trip must have a clear purpose, a justified public interest and publicly available information on the results achieved – they assesed.

The CCE is once again calling on the Parliament of Montenegro to publish information on official travel regularly and proactively, in a format that allows easy access to details on the destination, duration and purpose of each trip, participants, as well as individual costs for transportation, accommodation, per diems and other expenses.

- Alongside financial data, it is also necessary to publish brief reports on the results of trips, meetings and activities relevant to the work of Parliament - the organisation stressed.

Citizens, the CCE says, have the right to know not only how much parliamentary travel has cost, but also what has actually been achieved with more than €1 million in public funds.

- Transparency in the spending of public money must not depend on individual freedom-of-information requests, but must be a standard practice of an institution that represents all citizens of Montenegro - the Centre for Civic Education concluded.