The Constitutional Committee did not adopt an opinion to reject the initiative of the Black and White coalition to start the procedure for the evaluation of the constitutionality of Article 12 of the Law on Freedom of Religion.
The opinion was not adopted by the votes of seven representatives of the GP URA, DPS and the Liberal Party. Six members of the DF and the Democrats voted against the initiative.
This means that the deputies will declare about the initiative at the session of the Parliament of Montenegro.
On March 4, MPs of the Black and White coalition submitted to the Constitutional Court an initiative for the review of the constitutionality of Article 12 of the Law on Freedom of Religion because, as they announced at the time, "they have no problem with the legal solution they voted for in parliament being examined at the highest institutional level, especially bearing in mind that this Law caused numerous controversies in the public".
Article 12 states that "In cases of relocation, removal from the state or alienation of goods that represent the cultural heritage of Montenegro, and to which the religious community has the right of ownership, the provisions of the law regulating the protection of cultural goods shall be applied."
In the opinion submitted to the Constitutional Court, the Government of Montenegro stated that this initiative is unfounded, because Article 12 of the Law on Freedom of Religion does not violate any of the principles established by the Constitution.
Member of Parliament of the Black and White coalition Božena Jelušić (URA) said that they believed that Article 12 of the Law should be checked and "kept on the public's radar", stating that "they also deal with cultural diversity, there are practices of changing the original appearance of cultural monuments and that there is a possibility illegal transfer of cultural property."
"Our goal was to check this article of the law through the constitutional norm," said Jelušić.
She pointed out that URI does not care about political profiteering:
"All religious communities are recorded and registered. All are in the legal order of Montenegro. If any law proves to be insufficient, it can and should be checked, changed, supplemented. In this case, I believe that the state of cultural heritage and cultural assets is alarming, that it is not approached with sufficient consideration, and it was more a fight for land than it was really a question of protecting the cultural and historical interests of Montenegro," said Jelušić.
Liberal Party (LP) MP Andrija Popović said he would support the URE initiative.
He said that Montenegrin assets worth several billion euros, about 50 square kilometers of land and 650 Orthodox religious buildings, were alienated.
Predrag Sekulić (DPS) asked how the state will know if something has been alienated, because we are talking about movable cultural heritage.
He said that cultural and historical values should be protected by the state, but that it is difficult to provide such protection "if you have an unscrupulous owner from another country".
Democrat MP Vladimir Martinović said that they started to replace the thesis that the parliamentary majority had transcribed something that is the property of the state of Montenegro to another state.
He said that he would like those who claim that something is registered with the Belgrade Patriarchate to now provide evidence - real estate documents, which religious building in Montenegro is registered with the Belgrade Patriarchate.
"I claim that it is not one, and do not mislead the public," said Martinović.
Sekulić replied that historical facts, the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the laws of the State of Serbia and the Constitution of Montenegro are against Martinović. He said that the method of establishing Democratic Montenegro is disputed.
Martinović called on all deputies who have anything controversial for the establishment of Democratic Montenegro to submit it, stating that they have never depended on any center of power.
DF MP Branka Bošnjak said that the URE initiative should have been submitted after the Constitutional Court was completed:
"After we really see that not all those who received various apartments and loans and who were blackmailed by something are there," Bošnjak said, stating that she would not support the initiative.
Dragan Bojović (DF) said that the initiative is unnecessary and redundant and that we should no longer deal with issues that have been put to an end and that have been clearly and unambiguously resolved.
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