site.btaWill Serbian Orthodox Church Unseat Yet Another Montenegrin Government?

A number of parties in Montenegro's government coalition declared no confidence in Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic's cabinet after it signed the so-called Fundamental Agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church this week. It ministers to the largest religious community in the country, the Eastern Orthodox.

"The government does everything in the desire to build a society of justice and equality," the Prime Minister said in a press release after the signing in Podgorica, adding that the country should "turn a new leaf".

Montenegro has signed similar agreements separately with other religious denominations in the country: with the Catholic Church in 2011 and the Muslim and Jewish communities in 2012. Abazovic recently promised he would sign one with the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. This is supported by a minority, is unrecognized and uncanonical, and has the status of a religious NGO.

Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, who is also the primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, said that both need the agreement which is aligned with the Montenegrin Constitution.

The document stipulates that the Serbian Orthodox Church does not require governmental sanction to move cultural heritage items but in abidance by the Protection of Cultural Heritage Act.

The government is obligated to register all churches and monasteries on the country’s territory as belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church and to launch restitution of church estate nationalized by the communist authorities after World War II. Further provisions detail the building of churches and religious education.

The signing of the agreement came under immediate criticism by human rights activists and pro-Western political parties, including President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), which said it gave the church too much power compared to other religious communities.

While the pro-Serbian parties hailed the signing of the agreement, the DPS and the Social Democratic Party called for snap elections, declaring the document had been signed without a consensus.

DPS announced that it is launching a no-confidence vote on the Government. It tweeted that the agreement "is violating the Constitution of Montenegro" and "will be suspended immediately after the election of the new Government".

The Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Union of Albanians supported the no-confidence motion.

The subject of signing a Fundamental Agreement between Montenegro and the Serbian Orthodox Church was raised ten years ago, when the late Amfilohije was Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Montenegro and the Littoral and the government was formed by DPS. It was he who sent the first draft of the agreement to the government, but never received an answer.

Eight years later, things in Montenegro changed at both state and church level, for the Religious Freedom Act was passed at the end of 2019 and Djukanovic's DPS lost the elections after 30 years in government. This, in turn, was preceded by large protests and processions of the Serbian Orthodox Church and members of the faithful in which Amfilohije had a big role before he passed away.

In the September 2020 elections, the Democratic Party of Socialists lost power to a coalition of papers led by the Democratic Front, Democrats and Ur, the BBC recalls.

Amfilohije was succeeded by Metropolitan Ioannikije, who was enthroned in spite of protests by Patriarch Porfirije in Cetinje on September 5, 2021 and was present at the signing of the Basic Agreement.

In spite of being close to the Serbian Orthodox Church, the government led by Zdravko Krivokapic also fell victim to the church issue.

Krivokapic's government lost support in February 2022, when the Ura party of Dritan Abazovic denied him confidence. Six months later, with the help of DPS, Abazovic became the new Prime Minister.

Now Abazovic is in danger to be overthrown.