Milojko "Mickey" Spajić (; born 24 September 1987) is a Montenegrin politician and financial engineer serving as

Prime Minister of Montenegro The prime minister of Montenegro ( cnr-Latn, Premijer/Premijerka Crne Gore, cnr-Cyrl, Премијер/Премијерка Црне Горе), officially the president of the Government of Montenegro ( cnr-Latn, Predśednik/Predśednica Vlade ...

since October 2023. He also served as the minister of finance and social welfare in the

government of Montenegro The government of Montenegro (, Влада Црне Горе) is the executive branch of state authority in Montenegro. It is headed by the Prime Minister of Montenegro, prime minister. It consists of the prime minister, the deputy prime ministe ...

and the cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić from 2020 to 2022. Spajić is the president of the

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

Europe Now party. As of 2025, he is the fourth youngest serving state leader in the world, after Ibrahim Traoré of

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, Daniel Noboa of

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Kristrún Frostadóttir Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir (; born 12 May 1988) is an Icelandic politician and economist who has served as the prime minister of Iceland since December 2024, and is the current leader of the Social Democratic Alliance. She was elected to the ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Early life and education

Spajić was born on 24 September 1987 in

Pljevlja Pljevlja (, ) is a town located in the Northern Montenegro, Northern Region of Montenegro, situated along Ćehotina, Ćehotina river. The town lies at an altitude of . In the Middle Ages, Pljevlja had been a crossroad of the important commercial ...

, SR Montenegro,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. Spajić is related to Bishop Metodije Ostojić. He graduated from Pljevlja Gymnasium as one of the best students and continued his education at the Saitama University and

Osaka University The , abbreviated as UOsaka or , is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university in Osaka, Japan. The university traces its roots back to Edo period, Edo-era institutions Tekijuku (1838) and Kaitokudō, Kaitokudo (1724), ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, where he studied ecometrics in Japanese as a scholarship holder of the

Government of Japan The Government of Japan is the central government of Japan. It consists of legislative, executive (government), executive and judiciary branches and functions under the framework established by the Constitution of Japan. Japan is a unitary st ...

. As part of a student exchange program, he also studied at the

Tsinghua University Tsinghua University (THU) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of China. The university is part of Project 211, Project 985, and the Double First-Class Constructio ...

. He obtained his master's degree, also as a scholarship holder, in France at the

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

business school. In addition to his native

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

, he also speaks English, Japanese, Chinese,

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

and French.

Financial career

Following graduation he worked in the United States on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. Prior to joining politics Spajić also worked as a credit analyst for

Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered in Lower Manhattan in New York City, with regional headquarters in many internationa ...

, He has also been a partner of a venture capital fund in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

, Das Capital SG.

Political career

2020 parliamentary election

Spajić started his political career as a non-partisan politician and during the parliamentary elections in 2020 was a member of Zdravko Krivokapić's expert team. Spajić stated that there were several reasons for his return to Montenegro, but that the main one was the adoption of the disputed Law on Freedom of Religion and that the law shows how many problems have accumulated in the Montenegrin system. He added that until the situation improves, he would not "move" from Montenegro and that no investor would "trust in a state where an institution such as the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodox Church#Constit ...

(SOC), which had existed for eight centuries and is trusted by most Montenegrin citizens, is getting its property seized by the government". During the religious crisis, he participated in lobbying in the United States for interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the

Serbs of Montenegro Serbs of Montenegro () or Montenegrin Serbs (), compose native and the Demographics of Montenegro#Nationality/Ethnicity, second largest ethnic group in Montenegro (32.93% of country's population), after the Montenegrins (ethnic group), ethnic Mon ...

Minister of Finance and Social Welfare

Spajic was sworn in as the minister of finance and social welfare on 4 December 2020 and served under Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić. During his term, Spajić and economy minister

Jakov Milatović Jakov Milatović (, ; born 7 December 1986) is a Montenegrin politician and economist who is the incumbent president of Montenegro, serving since May 2023. He previously served as the minister of economic development in the cabinet of Zdravko ...

presented and implemented the controversial "Europe now" economic reform program. Following a parliamentary crisis, Prime Minister Krivokapić announced that he had submitted an initiative to the

Parliament of Montenegro The Parliament of Montenegro () is the unicameral legislature of Montenegro. The Parliament currently has 81 members, with each member elected to a four-year term. Following the 2006 independence referendum, the Parliament declared and ratified t ...

to remove Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and proposed that Spajić replaces him as the deputy prime minister. Spajić claimed that he donated his whole ministerial salary.

Europe Now

In 2022, Spajić and Milatović founded the Europe Now (PES) political party, with Spajić as president and Milatović as deputy president. PES participated in the 2022 local elections.

2023 elections

Spajić tried to run for President of Montenegro in the 2023 presidential election but his candidacy was rejected by the State Electoral Commission (DIK) as it was discovered that he is a dual citizen of Serbia and Montenegro. Following this discovery he stated he became a citizen of Serbia in 2009 and that the process of renouncing his Serbian citizenship is still ongoing. He later stated that he accepted Serbian citizenship so that he could travel to Japan without a visa. Instead of him, Milatović ran as PES candidate and ended up defeating incumbent president

Milo Đukanović Milo Đukanović (, ; born 15 February 1962) is a Montenegrin politician who served as the President of Montenegro from 2018 to 2023, previously serving in the role from 1998 to 2002. He also served as the Prime Minister of Montenegro (1991–19 ...

in the run-off with 58.88% of the popular vote. Following the presidential election, Spajić said that he is ready to take responsibility and be PES's ballot carrier for the 2023 parliamentary election. On 26 April, it was confirmed that Spajić would head PES's electoral list. During the election campaign, Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and interior minister Filip Adžić accused Spajić of having connections to South Korean cryptocurrency developer Do Kwon who was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023. According to Abazović, Do Kwon sent a letter from prison which was addressed to Abazović, Adžić, justice minister Marko Kovač and main prosecutor Vladimir Novović, informing them of his connections to Spajić. PES denied the accusations against Spajić and stated that Do Kwon signed the letter under Abazović's orders. PES won around 25% of the popular vote in the parliamentary election, gaining the most seats in the

. Following the election, Do Kwon denied that he ever financially backed Spajić. On 10 August 2023, President Jakov Milatović gave Spajić a mandate to form the new government. On 30 August 2023, protests were held throughout Montenegro against Spajić and his plans to include the ethnic minority parties in the new government due to them being former coalition partners of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and for excluding the pro-Serbian coalition For the Future of Montenegro from the new government formation.

Prime Minister of Montenegro

On 31 October, Montenegro's parliament approved a new government, with Spajić as Prime Minister.

Political positions

Foreign policy

Spajić supports the

accession of Montenegro to the European Union Accession of Montenegro to the European Union is on the agenda for future enlargement of the EU. After voting for independence from Serbia and Montenegro in 2006, Montenegro began the process of accession to the European Union by agreeing to ...

but also thinks that Western politicians are "not interested in Montenegro". He claimed that joining

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

was a "good move for Montenegro", but that he would be opposed to deploying Montenegrin soldiers to the

Baltic countries The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...

. Spajić condemned the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, which he considers an aggression, and voiced his support for sanctioning Russia, even though he thinks that sanctions would only "strengthen Moscow on its way". Spajić is against the proposals of Montenegro revoking the recognition of Kosovo's independence, stating that he thinks that that is "one of the topics behind us". He advocates closer relations between Montenegro and Serbia.

Personal life

Spajić has a daughter with his former partner. He is a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spajic, Milojko 1987 births Living people People from Pljevlja Serbs of Montenegro Naturalized citizens of Serbia Serbian people of Montenegrin descent Members of the Serbian Orthodox Church Saitama University alumni Osaka University alumni HEC Paris alumni Montenegrin businesspeople Finance ministers of Montenegro Europe Now politicians Members of the Parliament of Montenegro Goldman Sachs people