Photo: TanjugDritan Abazović and Patriarch Porfirije secretly signed the Fundamental Contract of the Serbian Orthodox Church with the state of Montenegro. DPS Milo Đukanović will ask for a vote of no confidence in the Government. Political tensions in Montenegro continue
The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazović, and the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Portfirije, signed the Basic Agreement at 10 a.m. on Wednesday in Podgorica. This put an end to the issue of regulating the relationship between the State of Montenegro and the SOC, mainly its property, which has been on the agenda since the beginning of 2020. The only problem is that Abazović did everything in secret, without consulting anyone, which only reinforces the Montenegrin media's observations that his government is slipping into arbitrariness.
It became known that the contract was signed only after Abazović shared that information on his Telegram account.
Porphyry entered Montenegro secretly and without prior notice.
Today appeared recently in the media as a possible date for the signing of the Basic Agreement, but Abazović categorically denied it at the time. He said that in his opinion it is "disinformation because the date has not yet been specified". If it was disinformation then, it is obvious that he forgot to inform the public when it turned out to be "information".
The Democratic Party of Socialists is starting today the initiative for votes of no confidence in the Government, Milo Đukanović's party stated on its Twitter profile and pointed out that "the Agreement signed today, which is against the Constitution of Montenegro, will be suspended immediately after the election of the new Government".
DPS's allies, the Social Democrats, issued a statement in which they characterized this as a "capitulation" and declared that "the government must fall."
The President of Prava Montenegro, Marko Milačić, who was once part of the coalition of the Democratic Front, said that with this contract with the SOC, "the state of Montenegro is formally stating what history has stated for centuries, which is the continuity of the SOC in these areas", which, he says, of "crucial importance after decades of brutal denial of this notorious fact, trampling on the basic rights of the largest religious organization in Montenegro, and even attempts to seize holy places"
A small number of protesting people gathered in front of Villa Gorica where the contract was signed.
The question is what options Abazović has now. If the DPS initiates a vote of no confidence, the URA may be able to count on the support of its old coalition partners, and in that way the Government could once again survive. However, it is difficult to say whether the Democrats and the Democratic Front will agree to be excluded from the executive branch again.
On the other hand, Abazović will lose two very important ministers from the ranks of the Social Democratic Party - the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who previously announced that the Government no longer has their support.
The fairest option is certainly new elections and a new distribution of mandates. However, Montenegrin laws are such that the Parliament can elect, form and terminate governments indefinitely.
FM/News/FoNet
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