Montenegro

The Montenegrin state prosecutor on Monday charged ex-mayor Lazar Radjenovic and several other officials from the scandal-hit resort town of Budva with abuse of office and costing the local budget eight million euros.

The Assembly of the Municipality of Bijelo Polje in northeastern Montenegro has rejected a proposal to make Aleksandar Vucic an honorary citizen.

Media in Podgorica are reporting that councilors from the Democratic Party of Socialists, the Social-Democratic Party, and Demos voted against.

The Podgorica government believes that a NATO membership invitation is inevitable at the two-day meeting that starts on Tuesday and has invited dozens of journalists from major Montenegrin media to Brussels to witness the occasion.

US Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he strongly supported Montenegro's membership of NATO, adding that the doors of the alliance were open.

Attending the Brod-Brijuni summit in Zagreb, Croatia, Biden said that Balkan NATO members Croatia and Slovenia had both shown what was possible through reform and reconciliation.

Montenegrin LGBT activists hope to walk the streets of the capital, Podgorica, for the third Gay Pride March, set for December 13.

The organizer of the parade, Queer Montenegro, an NGO, on Wednesday said it had decided to change the route from the one used during the previous two years.

The decision on Montenegro's membership in NATO will be made by Montenegro and by the members of the alliance, says NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.

Jens Stoltenberg said in Belgrade on Friday that NATO "regrets for every lost civilian life in the bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999."

Montenegrin police confirmed on Saturday that the German police had arrested a 51-year-old old man from the capital Podgorica on November 5.

German police said they found "many machine guns, revolvers and explosives" in his vehicle. 

The European Commission says Montenegro needs to do more to combat impunity over war crimes and effectively investigate, prosecute, try and punish war criminals in line with international standards.

The forthcoming European Commission report on Montenegro is likely to positively assess progress in the country but will stress the need for a more efficient fight against corruption and the need for guarantees of media freedom, sources in Brussels said.