Montenegro’s government on Friday voted in favour of the contested fundamental agreement with Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC, despite threats of a no-confidence vote from junior ruling parties.
Montenegrin Government session in Podgorica. Photo: Government of Montenegro
Montenegro’s government on Friday voted in favour of the contested fundamental agreement with Serbian Orthodox Church, SPC, amid threats of a no-confidence vote from junior ruling parties.
The agreement was supported by 13 ministers from the Black on White coalition, pro-Serbian Socialist Peoples Party and ethnic Albanian parties.
Five ministers from the Democratic Socialist Party, DPS, Bosniak Party and Croatian Civic Initiative were against the decision. The Minister of European Affairs Jovana Marovic, Minister of Culture, Masa Vlaovic, and Minister of Public Administration, Marash Dukaj, were absent.
Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said that the signing of an agreement with the Church was a way toward easing tensions in the country. “I did not come to … be blackmailed by those I am fighting against. This has nothing to do with the fundamental agreement, or the Church, but is just an attempt of criminal structures and tobacco smugglers to provoke instability in the country,” Abazovic said.
“If there is no other solution, we will go to elections,” 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.
On June 29, the Ministry of Justice proposed a fundamental agreement draft, which was opposed by the ruling DPS and Social Democrats, SDP, who called for wide negotiations.
While some NGOs called on the government to open a dialogue on the agreement before it was voted on, members of so-called patriotic organizations launched protests in the capital Podgorica, calling for the government’s dismissal. The agreement will be passed for a vote in parliament in weeks to come.
But Deputy Prime Minister and SDP leader Rasko Konjevic warned that the government would lose its majority in parliament if the agreement is signed.
“A request for shortening the mandate of parliament will be formally submitted. This will lead to political instability and Prime Minister will be responsible for that,” Konjevic said.
The DPS and SDP have long accused the Serbian Church of promoting Serbian nationalism and of undermining Montenegrin statehood.
Deputy Prime Minister and head of the Social Peoples Party, Vladimir Jokovic, said that signing of the agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church was his party’s priority when they decided to enter the minority government. “We cannot delay the signing of the agreement anymore … Montenegro has a serious chance to put an end to the issue of the agreement with the Church and move forward,” Jokovic said.
According to the agreement, 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 for its part 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.
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.
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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