The Kolašin Municipal Assembly, with 18 votes in favor and two votes against, adopted the Decision on the erection of a memorial by constructing a monument to Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral.
Opposition representatives in the local parliament challenged the legality of the decision, because the parent Committee on Statutes and Regulations did not initially support the proposal - with two committee members in favor and two abstaining. The committee then reconvened during a session break, and the proposed decision was accepted, after which the councilors voted.
All councilors from the ruling majority voted in favor of erecting the monument, as did Duško Šćepanović, a councilor from the opposition Movement Together We Build Kolašin (DPS, SDP, SD and non-party figures). Šćepanović's colleagues from the movement, Bojan Zeković and Ivan Grdinić, were against it, while Balša Cvetković did not vote, and Matija Bulatović left the hall immediately before the vote. Opposition councilor Marta Šćepanović left the assembly hall earlier. Several opposition councilors, including two councilors from the "For Our Kolašin" Voters' Group, did not attend the Assembly session today.
The president of the local parliament, Vasilije Bulatović (DNP), was also absent, and he appointed opposition councilor Balša Cvetković as the chairman.
He told "Vijesti" that he was not feeling well, which is why he did not come to the session.
"The chairman of the selection and appointment committee (Democrats) was not in the mood to lead the session. Considering that I do not have a secretary, I assessed that, given the importance of the session, Balša Cvetković would do the best job. All the decisions came to the session, thanks to the opposition, so I knew that the opposition would not obstruct," Bulatović said.
At the beginning of the session, there were no government councilors, so the quorum was ensured thanks to opposition councilors. As explained at the session, the opposition had previously ensured the quorum in two parliamentary committees, which led to the initial result of the vote in the Committee on Statutes and Regulations. Zeković explained that the local government's decision to erect a monument to the late metropolitan is "scratching on symbolic potential."
Citing details from Radović's biography, he explained why he would not vote for the monument, and criticized the authorities for "trying to help him in a cheap, mundane and legally twisted way."
"Every monument erection is a political decision, you have the right to do so, to affirm the values that are important to you. This way is a new realization of your readiness to, on someone else's orders, implement certain decisions at any cost... I will not quote some of his words - some are offensive. Everyone thinks that it is not for a monument. It is good that you decided to have the monument in the courtyard of a religious building, and not in a public place," said, among other things, Zeković.
He added that "no individual, not even the one to whom the decision about the monument applies, deserved today's cheap attempt at manipulation."
Cvetković said that the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral no longer has primacy over other dioceses on the territory of Montenegro, and that the Episcopal Council, which Metropolitan Amfilohije chaired, no longer exists. He claims that everything that will be written on the monument, in an institutional sense, was built during the 30 years of DPS rule, and "ceased with the arrival of the 'liberators'".
Matija Bulatović had a similar argument.
Before that, Zeković and Bulatović had numerous formal objections to the proposed decision.
Two votes in favor and two against in the Committee for Statutes and Regulations, according to Zeković, means that the proposal for a decision on the erection of a monument to Metropolitan Amfilohije did not pass that working body, which, he reminded, was necessary according to the Statute of the Municipal Assembly for the decision to be included on the agenda. He also found numerous other legal shortcomings in that act.
"The draft decision states 'a monument is being erected', and then that the Metropolitanate will do it. The Municipality provided money for that almost three years earlier. It is not explained how the local government authorities will take care of the monument, and the decision states that they will do so. The initiative that you submitted to the councilors does not contain what is prescribed by law. Our suggestion is that, if you want to do this, do it in a legally valid manner," said Zeković.
On the other hand, the ruling majority called today an important day, and the erection of a monument to the late metropolitan as "repaying the debt for everything he did for Montenegro." This, they said, is the least his hometown can do.
"This agenda item was on the committee, and the opposition had no objections or amendments at the time. It was included in the agenda as is, so we have to express our opinion on it. There is no withdrawal of the item... If we had not had all the approvals for the Program on the erection of memorials and the draft decision, we would not have been able to put it on the agenda. I do not see anything problematic. If someone does not like the erection of the monument, let them say so directly, and not hide behind stories about alleged legal shortcomings," said the Mayor of the Municipality, Petko Bakić.
He explained that the monument already exists and that it "looks nice," and Zeković asked him how decisions are made today about the dimensions and appearance of a monument that already exists.
The councilors today, among other things, voted on the budget rebalance and elected acting executive directors of the Agency for Spatial Design and Planning and Parking Service. Andrija Mirović and Nikola Krneta were appointed to these positions, who also received votes from the opposition, with the assessment that these are appropriate personnel solutions.
Kojović: Session held under strange and surprising circumstances
The session of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Kolašin held today "was held under, to put it mildly, strange and surprising circumstances," announced the president of the Kolašin board of United Montenegro and councilor Vukoman Kojović.
He explains that this refers to the fact that the President of the Municipal Assembly, Vasilije Bulatović, signed an authorization for councilor Balša Cvetković to chair the session.
"Cvetković is a councilor from the coalition around DPS and its satellites, so questions arise: why did the president of the municipal council not show up to chair the session, and then why did he transfer the authority to a councilor from the opposition DPS? It is also symptomatic that at today's session, the erection of a monument to our late Metropolitan Amfilohije was discussed and voted on, and that proposal passed with as many as 18 votes 'in favor', including councilors from United Montenegro, New Serbian Democracy, Democratic People's Party (DNP), Europe Now Movement, URE, Democrats, Socialist People's Party (SNP) and one councilor from the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), Duško Šćepanović. So, 18 votes for the proposal, which has already received the green light from the highest state addresses, so we have witnessed these days the presentation of a posthumous recognition to our Metropolitan by the President of the state," wrote Kojović.
He asks "why did Bulatović, a councilor from the DNP, not show up to chair the session with such an important item on the agenda and why did he transfer the chairman's powers to a councilor from the coalition around the DPS?"
"Why should we wait for answers to these questions without thinking that Mr. Bulatović is in disagreement with the policy of the party to which he belongs? Why did Mr. Bulatović not sign the authorization for a councilor from another party or coalition, even though he himself comes from the coalition that defeated the hateful and corrupt policies of the DPS? If so, we ask Mr. Bulatović to explain his views," says the president of the Kolašin branch of the United Montenegro party.
According to him, "it's DNP's turn," and the United councilors will "consider whether to remain in the majority if the president of the municipal council remains Bulatović." Kojović says that obstruction could be just the beginning and that, if so, "Bulatović should be dismissed and placed in the position he is seeking in the opposition."
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