Centre for Civic Education (CCE) notes that the work on Encyclopedia of Montenegro, a capital project of the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (CANU), has been marked by a series of controversies, both regarding financial projections, which are continuously increasing, and the selection of collaborators.
The project officially began on 1 September 2024, and by 31 December 2025, that is, in less than a year and a half, EUR 446,936.60 had been spent.
From 1 September to 31 December 2024, EUR 174,926.10 was spent, and the Editorial Board of the Encyclopedia met six times. The Editorial Board is chaired by Dragan Vukčević, whose term as President of CANU ended immediately before he was appointed Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia. He organizes and coordinates the work of the Editorial Board in accordance with the Rulebook on the Preparation of the Encyclopedia of Montenegro, which he signed while still serving as President of CANU.
According to the Decision on the Appointment of the Members of the Editorial Board of the Encyclopedia of Montenegro, the following are entitled to monthly compensation from the project funds: the Editor-in-Chief (100% of the average net salary in Montenegro in the previous year), field editors (80%), and other members of the Editorial Board (60%).
In the CANU Yearbook for 2024, which is still not publicly available on the institution’s website, the then newly elected President of CANU, Ljubiša Stanković, stated that previous lexicographic projects had created “an excellent basis for the start of work on the Encyclopedia”, and that the work of the Lexicographic Centre marked the beginning of fulfilling the Academy’s legal obligation. He also pointed out that the State had recognized the importance of the project through the budget, noting that the dynamics and scope of the work would depend entirely on the approved funds. He further expressed hope “that this would be one of the Academy’s contributions to Montenegro’s full membership in the EU, and that these two processes would be completed within approximately the same time frame”.
In 2025, an additional EUR 272,010.50 was allocated to the Encyclopedia, and the Editorial Board met 16 times.
Review of the minutes shows that most meetings were dedicated to work on the alphabetic entries, although the start of this process had been planned for the third quarter of 2024, indicating delays despite the fact that this should not have been the case given the amount of funds allocated and spent.
CCE also requested the Editorial Board’s work plan, but CANU referred it to the Work Programme for 2026, which is general in nature. CCE believes that for a project of this importance, with a set completion deadline of 31 December 2028 and costs that will exceed one million euros by the end of this year alone, there must be a separate, detailed work plan with clearly defined deadlines and responsibilities.
CCE points out that at least EUR 550,000 is planned for the Encyclopedia in 2026, alongside indications of the continued growth of these costs. In addition to the funds already allocated, CANU continues to submit requests for additional budget funds. Only last week, by a Government decision, a further EUR 25,000 was reallocated from a ministry to CANU for the needs of work on the Encyclopedia.
CCE will continue to closely monitor the implementation of the Encyclopedia of Montenegro project and insist on full transparency, accountability, and merit-based approach in its implementation. Given the significant public funds that continue to be allocated, it is unacceptable for such a project to lack a precise structure and a publicly available work plan. The Encyclopedia of Montenegro must not be reduced to the mere formal fulfilment of a legal obligation, but must become a credible, professionally grounded, and permanently valuable work of broad social importance.
Sara Čabarkapa, Active Citizenship Programme Coordinator