Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić announced that the Democratic Front and one of its leaders, Andrija Mandić, are using the issue of the fundamental contract to overthrow the Government.
He said last night that he will sign the contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro and that it is not the basis or condition for the protection of church property, as this is settled by the Law on Freedom of Religion.
Krivokapić accused Mandić of directly and personally exerting pressure to postpone the election of the metropolitan of Montenegrin and Littoral until the reconstruction of the Government.
In his address, he explained that he accepted the prime ministership "due to the blessing of Metropolitan Amfilohi" and that as a mandate holder, he promised that the first task of the Government would be to propose a different Law on Freedom of Religion.
"The property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as the sanctuaries of other religious communities, are thus finally protected from all those who wanted to seize the money by taking away the sanctuaries for themselves, by which future generations will know them", added Krivokapić.
He stated that he will conclude the Agreement because it is an act of civilization that was realized with all other religious communities.
"The conclusion of this Agreement is the need of our Metropolitan Amfilohi, whose blessing over all our souls I feel as the greatest debt to fight for what he indomitably, unyieldingly defended, disobedience to political and all other blackmail, to the imposition of a game that pulls the strings outside of Montenegro and outside the Serbian Orthodox Church. To preserve his shadow, I will do everything, but I do not agree and will not agree that anyone seeks the blessing of the metropolitan and reckons with his clearly expressed will", says Krivokapić.
He said that he went to Patriarch Porfiri without suspecting that he was entering a political game started outside the SPC to discuss the Treaty and stated that he believed that neither Porfiri nor Ioankii knew anything about it.
He explained that October 30 was a proposal, not an exclusive date, and that he proposed to the patriarch to set the date himself even before that, stating that the Agreement cannot be signed before the Government session, where the text would be adopted and where the members would declare Governments.
Krivokapić says that he expressed his desire for Joanikije to be metropolitan, even though it is not pragmatic, and that he was portrayed in numerous media as a traitor "for one of everything national, for another of everything Serbian, for the third of everything Montenegrin, and now, finally, of everything church, because that is the measure of such a game, that the only traitor is not the one who blindly follows the instructions and policy whose exponent is the Democratic Front."
"In the background of this, and I am now openly telling the people of Montenegro, one of the main roles is played by the leader of the Democratic Front, Mr. Andrija Mandić, who directly and personally pressed for the election of the metropolitan to be postponed until the reconstruction of the Government. Zdravko Krivokapić, and the people of Montenegro must know this clearly, did not say anything to the patriarch last night that would threaten the interests of Montenegro, nor the interests of the faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but Zdravko Krivokapić obviously threatened the interests of the Democratic Front. I did not agree to such blackmail, because the Government of Montenegro and Montenegro, while I am the Prime Minister, will not be blackmailed by anyone, not even a part of the parliamentary majority, to whom the signing of this Agreement, now as clear as day, serves as an excuse for overthrowing the Government.
I will be completely direct: Mr. leaders of the Democratic Front and everyone who hides in front of or behind them, do not teach me about my religion and my church. You expressed your relationship towards the church, Metropolitan Amfilohi, and thus the people of Montenegro, at the meeting near Ostrog immediately after the parliamentary elections", alluding to the closeness of the DF and the authorities in Serbia.
Sign the basic contract in Montenegro
The basic contract between the Government of Montenegro and the Serbian Orthodox Church should be signed in Montenegro, the highest state officials and lawyers agree.
Retired law professor and former judge of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Nebojsa Vučinić, told "Vijesta" that the basic contract should be signed in Montenegro, not in Belgrade.
"However, he deals with the issue of dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church located in the territory of Montenegro. But it is obvious that the intention of the leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the more extreme, right-wing wing within the Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church is for the contract to be signed in Belgrade. "Probably in order to know who is the boss - both over Montenegro and over its citizens," says Vučinić.
Member of the Legal Council of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, Dragan Šoć, believes that it sounds inappropriate that the Prime Minister should go at night to sign the Agreement.
"It should still happen in Montenegro and be a solemn act, as it was when the Treaty was signed in the Vatican with the Holy See," Šoć told Radio Free Europe.
The President of the Parliament of Montenegro, Aleksa Bečić, told the "News" that all previous public statements by the state and church authorities were in the direction that the basic contract will be signed in Montenegro, after the text of the contract has been agreed upon.
"It is a logical, natural and rational approach. Why there were some new moments in relation to those announcements and plans - and in these days - is not for me to judge, because it could be understood as interfering in matters outside of my constitutional competence. It is up to citizens and the public to draw conclusions," explained Bečić.
"Suddenly actualized"
The issue of signing the basic contract was brought up to date the night before last night, with the announcement by the Serbian news agency Tanjug that Prime Minister Krivokapić is coming to Belgrade to sign the basic contract with Serbian Patriarch Porfiri.
Krivokapić did appear in Belgrade soon after that, but there he delivered two messages to his hosts - that the "faithful people" wanted Bishop Joaniki from Budamlje-Niššić to be the Metropolitan of the MCP and that the fundamental contract should be signed on October 30, i.e. on the date the long-time head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro - Amfilohije - passed away.
Before leaving, Krivokapić had communication with the Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazović and Bečić, which both confirmed today.
Abazović said that there should be no rush to sign the contract and that the interests of Montenegro should be protected, but also that the desire to sign the contract is not in doubt.
"We have no problem with it being signed, but before that we need to see the document, analyze it, so that it complies with all standards. In order to have quality, we cannot do it in a speedy way. I do not think that fundamental contracts should be signed on the spur of the moment. Secondly, let me be very clear - the interests of Montenegro must be fully protected. "No one will humiliate Montenegro," Abazović told TV Vijesti.
Becic told "Vijesti" that he spoke with the prime minister about "this suddenly topical issue".
"The position that I communicated to Mr. Krivokapić is identical to the position that I have communicated to the public several times. The process of harmonizing and signing the fundamental contract between the state and the Church is under the jurisdiction of the Government, as it was in all previous cases of signing the same with other churches and religious communities. Therefore, I am not familiar with any working version of the basic contract, and all the more I emphasize that everything that the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and members of the Government - i.e. the Government - agree with the Church, is something that is acceptable to me", emphasizes Bečić.
He says that the fact that at the same time, for Krivokapić, one spectrum of political subjects claims that he is against the Church, and another that he is a church person, speaks volumes about the purpose of the attack on him and the Government. Bečić says that the dignity, interest and honor of the state and the Church must be fully protected.
The delegation is satisfied, the Patriarchate and Joanikije are angry
The government delegation, which included ministers Milojko Spajić and Jakov Milatović, according to unofficial information from "Vijesti", was satisfied with the meeting in the Patriarchal Palace, although, according to the same information, pressure was exerted on Krivokapić to sign the Agreement that same evening.
After the Government's plane returned to Podgorica, a harsh statement from the Patriarchate followed.
The announcement states that the only reason for Krivokapić's visit to the Patriarchal Palace in Belgrade was to sign the fundamental contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church, but that he presented new reasons for which he believes that the signing of the contract must be postponed.
The Patriarchate also said that yesterday the text of the basic contract was fully agreed upon between the Government and the SPC and that the Government representatives confirmed in the afternoon that they would come to Belgrade to sign the contract with Krivokapić and Porfirije.
They also pointed out that "the patriarch listened to those reasons with attention, great patience, but also with even greater surprise, not in the least seeing the foundation and justification of Prime Minister Krivokapić's intention not to sign the contract, which was the only reason for his arrival at the Patriarchal Court in Belgrade." ”
"His Holiness the Patriarch and the present archbishops expressed great regret and concern for the further position of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful people, considering that only with it, although the absolute majority of the people in Montenegro belong to it, no contract has been signed that guarantees it legal position, and thus the religious and civil rights of the people of Sveti Sava, which represents an act of open discrimination. The Serbian Orthodox Church and its faithful people, even in these circumstances, will not give up defending their rights and their sanctuaries," the announcement concludes.
The role of the bishop of Bačka
The spokesman of the SPC is Bishop Irinej of Bačka, who is primarily known in Montenegro for his long association with Amfilohi, and the group around the late MCP metropolitan even distanced themselves from the official announcements that Irinej wrote on behalf of the Synod of the SPC.
The source of "Vijesti" claims that it was the bishop of Bačka Irinej who indirectly put pressure on Ioanniki yesterday, casting doubt, which was previously often attributed to Amfilochius in those circles, that he was planning some kind of church autonomy in Montenegro, all in agreement with Krivokapić.
Several Serbian media reported that Irinej was the main opponent of appointing Ioanniki as metropolitan, even though his spiritual son, Patriarch Porfirije, promised this to many bishops before the Council.
Although, according to all announcements, the Parliament was supposed to resolve the "personnel issues" for the two metropolitan areas and the Valje diocese yesterday, this has not been resolved either, and the Parliament continues its work today, and it is not excluded that it will continue on Monday.
The unnamed interlocutor of the Nova.rs portal stated that the outcome of today's session of the Parliament actually shows who governs the SPC and that the election of Joaniki would show that Porfirije resisted pressure and blackmail, and that the postponement would mean that the bishop of Bačka is actually a shadow patriarch.
Joanikije, meanwhile, announced himself through the IN4S portal.
"I demanded from the Prime Minister of Montenegro to fulfill his promise and sign a fundamental contract with the SPC, and not to interfere in the election of the Metropolitan of Montenegrin-Limitor, which is the exclusive competence of the Holy Council of Bishops of the SPC. Mr. Krivokapić's proposal to sign the basic contract on October 30 is also absurd, which is a kind of political maneuver and cannot be subsumed under a benevolent gesture that would lead to the calming of long-term tensions, the resolution of which was a key priority of the Krivokapić government," states the statement also published the website of the Diocese of Budimljansko-Nikšić where the bishop is, but not the website of the Metropolis where he is the administrator.
This certainly means a new era in the relations between Krivokapić and Joaniki, who indirectly supported the prime minister and Bečić in the local elections, provoking the open anger of the Democratic Front, which then for the first time openly criticized the bishop in press releases.
The church in Montenegro influenced the choice of Krivokapić as the representative for the composition of the Government. He emerged as a political figure from the position of head of the NGO "We will not give Montenegro". The day before yesterday, Krivokapić said in parliament that he alone chose the composition of the Government.
All angry, different reasons
Dragan Šoć, a member of the Legal Council of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, said that he was very surprised by the "mysterious departure" of Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić to Belgrade, which, he believes, caused multiple damage.
"It will rightly be perceived as an interference in the internal affairs of the church. I am afraid that with that move, Prime Minister Krivokapić has caused damage to Montenegro, that is, to the Government that he represents and to himself as Prime Minister, but also to Bishop Joaniki, Šoć told RSE.
He wonders who authorized Prime Minister Krivokapić to convey the message to SPC Patriarch Porfiri on behalf of the "faithful people" of Montenegro.
"The prime minister is the head of a state body, the Government of Montenegro. He embodies the state and all citizens of Montenegro. I don't know where he got the need and authority to speak on behalf of the faithful people of Montenegro. That should belong to the clergy. I think that he did a bad service to Bishop Ioanniki himself, because he will open up space for all those who do not look favorably on his election as the Metropolitan of Montenegro to think that he is behind this arrival. Which, I deeply believe, is not true," says Šoć.
He also believes that there was no reason to postpone the contract and tie it to a certain date.
Krivokapić announced yesterday morning that the date for signing the basic contract remains to be agreed.
MP and one of the leaders of the DF, Andrija Mandić, assessed yesterday that Krivokapić behaved very badly towards people from the Church who introduced him to politics and directly led him to the position of prime minister.
"No one from the parliamentary majority, neither from Bečić's nor from Abazović's party, uttered a single public word against the signing of the basic contract. So who was against it? It looks like only Krivokapić. Maybe Bečić and Abazović told him one thing secretly, in private, so that no one hears, and the other publicly," Mandić pointed out, adding that Krivokapić "in his confusion turned his back on his spiritual teachers, benefactors, led by the blessed Metropolitan Amfilochius".
One of the leaders of the Democratic Front, Milan Knežević, assessed that Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić's failure to sign the fundamental contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church was a "scandal of unprecedented proportions."
In an interview with B92 television, Knežević also said that this means that Krivokapić has no intention of signing that document.
"This is a first-rate scandal for which Krivokapić does not have the support of the Democratic Front, nor the support of the Church, nor the support of the voters who voted for us to resolve relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church. Just when you think that Krivokapić can't make a new scandal, a scandal of unprecedented proportions happens. Which only confirms that he cannot perform this function", said Knežević.
The Democrats announced that everything agreed by the Government with the representatives of the Church is acceptable to them. They, recalling that it was announced that the basic contract would be signed in Montenegro, said that it is up to the public to judge "new moments".
The opposition Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) called on Krivokapić to present to the public all the details of the "scandalous events that took place in Belgrade".
"If Krivokapić does not have the strength or courage to present the content of the contract to the public as soon as possible and explain all the circumstances and details of the event, it is more honorable for him to resign and stop embarrassing himself, and indirectly the country of which he is the prime minister," the DPS pointed out.
The spokesperson of the Social Democrats (SD), Nikola Zirojević, announced that no one has brought down civic Montenegro like Krivokapić.
"Montenegro, throughout history, does not remember as much trouble as this man brought, during his mandate, and does not remember as much silence and patience as those with a civic sign, who support him in the parliament, demonstrated and plan to demonstrate Zirojević stated.
The General Secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Ivan Vujović, said that the prime minister's sudden flight to Belgrade is just another illustration of the "sad, inferior and undignified position in which Montenegro found itself after the elections on August 30".
He announced that nothing can be strange if we know that the very formation of the Government "is the result of the synchronous action of the authorities in Belgrade and the SPC, and that the final word on it as well as the key personnel decisions was given by the SPC".
For the Liberal Party (LP), Krivokapić's unannounced departure to Belgrade is "arbitrary and another shameful act in the political career of this government, the end of which is in sight".
"The question arises as to whether Montenegro is still essentially an independent state that makes its own decisions, or whether they are created by foreign power centers, this time the top of the Serbian state and the church in Serbia," LP said.
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