Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said his government will sign a ‘fundamental agreement’ with the Serbian Orthodox Church – whatever the disagreements within the ruling majority.
Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic (L) and Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije (R) meeting in Montenegro.Photo: Government of Montenegro
Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic on Wednesday said his government will sign a fundamental agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church, DPS, despite disagreements within the ruling coalition.
The largest ruling party, the Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, and the Social Democratic Party, SDP, criticized the draft published on Tuesday as too favourable to the Church, the largest faith group in Montenegro.
But Abazovic said the draft agreement was presented to ruling party officials before it was published, and the DPS and SDP had made no comments on its content.
“Those parties had an opportunity to express their dissatisfaction with the draft. If they want to do something in accordance with their powers, the Prime Minister has nothing against it …. [but] this Government will close this issue,” Abazovic told a press conference.
“While I am Prime Minister, only state interests will be my priority, not party interests,” he added.
Montenegro has signed several “fundamental agreements” with smaller religious communities: with the Catholic Church in 2011, and with the Islamic and Jewish communities in 2012. But no agreement has been reached with the Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC.
According to the draft, the Serbian Church doesn’t need government permission for relocating cultural heritage it owns, but must obey the Law of Cultural Heritage Protection.
The government is obliged to register all Orthodox churches and monasteries as belonging to the SPC and also start the restitution process of Church property nationalized or confiscated by the Communist authorities after World War Two.
According to the draft, the state cannot give building permission for Orthodox churches without the approval of the SPC, while Orthodox religious education can be regulated in public schools.
While the opposition pro-Serbian Democratic Front supports the agreement, the DPS and SDP warned that the government could be ousted if Abazovic signs the agreement without a wide consensus in parliament.
“Negotiations on an agreement with the SPC must be inclusive and include the professional public in order to protect the interests of the state and secure consensus. Otherwise, the consequences are known,” DPS MP Milos Nikolic said on Tuesday.
The DPS and SDP have long accused the Serbian Church of promoting Serbian nationalism and of undermining Montenegrin statehood.
Minister of Justice Marko Kovac on Tuesday said the government had formed a five-member team for negotiations with the Church, stressing that the government will not hurry with the signing of the agreement. The same day, one of the team members, lawyer Nikola Martinovic, said the majority of the team members had not yet approved the published agreement draft.
The former government failed to sign a fundamental agreement even though the final draft had been sent to the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has to decide on a signing.
On January 15, the Serbian Church’s leader, Patriarch Porfirije, said the Church’s legal experts believed there was room to improve the agreement.
According to the 2011 census, 72 per cent of Montenegrins identify as Orthodox Christians and about 70 per cent of this number follow the Serbian Orthodox Church; another 30 per cent identify with the rival, unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church. Muslims make up another 20 per cent of the population. The rests are Catholics and others.
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