The Centre for Civic Education (CCE) informs the public that during 2025 the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU) allocated a total of EUR 934,566 for compensation to its members, of which EUR 930,265.80 was paid by 20 December, and EUR 4,300.20 from 21 to 31 December 2025.
We recall that on 22 December CCE submitted a request to CANU for free access to information, seeking data on compensation for full and corresponding members up to 20 December 2025. These data were published on CANU’s website on 5 January 2026, which we welcomed as a contribution to the transparency of this institution’s work.
Subsequently, CCE also requested data for the period from 21 to 31 December, which CANU provided at the end of January. This time, however, these data were not published on CANU’s website. We express regret that the consolidated amounts for the entire year are not publicly available in one place, given the considerable public interest in this issue, but we are making them widely accessible at least in this manner.
As explained to CCE, the funds paid from 21 to 31 December 2025 relate to the financing of the encyclopaedia and lexicon project from a separate budget line, for which EUR 3,550.20 was allocated, as well as to projects and other activities, for which EUR 750 was allocated. These compensations were received by a total of nine full and corresponding CANU members, including academicians Dragan Vukčević and Zoran Rašović, who each received EUR 150 on this basis. We recall that Vukčević and Rašović are among the five academicians who during 2025 received more than EUR 40,000 from CANU.
Thus, the final annual fee amounts for these five academicians are: Predrag Miranović – EUR 42,803.20; Zoran Rašović – EUR 41,108.40; Žarko Mirković – EUR 40,859.60; Ljubiša Stanković – EUR 40,544.00; Dragan Vukčević – EUR 40,446.00.
We reiterate that these amounts relate to additional income, as academicians simultaneously earn income through regular employment, pensions, the status of distinguished artists, and other contractual engagements. In other words, these academicians do not live exclusively on the funds they receive from CANU, although these are significant.
We also recall that CANU’s budget in 2021 amounted to EUR 1.33 million, meaning that the amount paid to members in one year represents about 70% of that budget. Furthermore, unlike the judiciary, which has long been promised a Palace of Justice, CANU very quickly received a building that cost EUR 9 million.
Given that CANU’s budget increased by 135% from 2021 to 2026, and that for this year it amounts to a record EUR 3.13 million, CCE will continue to monitor the Academy’s work and the spending of public funds, and will regularly inform the public about this. CANU is financed by the money of all citizens of Montenegro, who have the right to know how that money is spent.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator