Montenegro's EU Language Team Sparks Debate Over Serbian Language Status

The Council of the European Union has created a specialist team in Brussels to draft the Montenegrin‑language version of the accession treaty as Montenegro moves toward EU membership. Minister Maida Gorčević announced the opening of a job posting for a lawyer‑linguist to join the team.

Critics say the initiative ignores the linguistic reality in Montenegro, where 43 % of citizens reported Serbian as their mother tongue in the 2023 census. Sociologist Bojan Panaotović pointed out that the constitution recognises only Montenegrin as the official language, while Serbian is relegated to "use in official contexts," creating a disparity between demographic reality and legal status.