BRUSSELS – All national decisions on collecting data on sensitive and non-binding topics during the upcoming census in Montenegro, such as ethnicity, religion and language, should be based on inclusive public consultations and the principle of free self-expression, said the European Commission’s Spokesperson Ana Pisonero today, FoNet reports.
She pointed out that the EU legislation on the census does not include ethnicity, religion and language as the main topics.
Pisonero added that the EU encourages Montenegro to follow the Conference of European Statisticians Recommendations for the 2020 Censuses of Population and Housing in that regard.
“Our recommendations and findings from Chapter 18 on statistics in this year’s report for Montenegro regarding the preparations for the census remain valid, including those concerning the need to significantly strengthen the human and financial resources of the Statistical Office of Montenegro and the Central Bureau of Statistics and the Address Register”, Pisonero emphasized.