On the last day of last year, the government allocated 1,6 million euros for two religious high schools. The Mehmed Fatih Madrasah and the Sveti Sava Gymnasium each received 800.000 euros.
According to available data, which Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG) analyzed, these two religious schools received 7,4 million euros from the budget from 2019 to the end of last year. 3,9 million euros were paid to the Madrasa from 2019, and 3,5 million to the Orthodox Gymnasium from 2022 to the end of last year.
The government is not sparing money for religious high schools, even though Podgorica has lacked a second state gymnasium for decades. It has been announced that its construction will finally begin this year, and the estimated cost is 9,3 million euros.
The State Audit Institution (DRI) warned at the end of 2024 that allocations for religious schools were contrary to the provisions of the General Law on Education.
The Center for Civic Education (CCE), based on an audit report, filed a criminal complaint with the Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) against an unidentified person for the payment of 4,9 million euros for financing secondary religious schools from 2019 to 2023. The complaint was dismissed, and the Government, in its latest funding decision, refers to the same law, which the SAI concluded was violated.
Data on total allocations to religious communities are not transparent and clearly presented in any official document, but some data can be found in other databases.
According to the Mojnovac website of the Institute Alternative (IA), from 2019 to the end of last year, the most money from the budget went to the Meshihat of the Islamic Community in Montenegro - 5,2 million euros.
The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) received 3,9 million euros from the budget during that period, of which the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral received 2,2 million, the Diocese of Budimlje-Niksic 1,6 million, the Diocese of Zahumlje-Herzegovina 42.645 euros, and the Diocese of Milesevo 85.000 euros.
In the same seven-year period, the Episcopal Ordinariate of Kotor received 234.000 euros from the state, and the Archbishopric of Bar 89.000 euros. However, about 1,5 million euros from the budget were paid to the Catholic humanitarian organization Caritas. Just over a million euros for Caritas of the Archdiocese of Bar, 357.000 for Caritas Montenegro, and 20.000 euros for Caritas of the Diocese of Kotor.
According to available data, the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC) received just over 300.000 euros from the state during the same period.
There is no data on how much money religious communities receive from municipalities, state-owned enterprises, various businessmen, etc. This does not even include the millions of euros that religious communities received through the free transfer of public real estate, primarily land.
CIN-CG sent questions about the money received from the budget and the construction of religious buildings to several addresses of the three largest religious communities in Montenegro. No answers were received.
The vow of silence when it comes to religious communities is also characteristic of institutions. The Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism and State Property did not want to provide the data requested by CIN-CG. The Real Estate Administration did not respond to the request for information on how much real estate owned by religious communities is registered in the cadastre, and the Tax Administration is also silent on CIN-CG's requests to, among other things, provide information on tax exemptions or reductions, as well as aggregate data on tax debts of religious communities in Montenegro.
When CIN-CG requested a list of all issued urban planning and technical conditions, building permits and other approvals for the construction, reconstruction or extension of religious, sacral or religious buildings, and any decisions on exemption from fees, none of the coastal municipalities, nor Podgorica, responded. Only municipalities in the north of the country responded.
They build churches on agricultural land and don't pay utilities
Documentation obtained by CIN-CG through open access from several local governments shows that the attitude of local authorities towards religious buildings depends primarily on individual political decisions, rather than on systemic rules. The lack of transparent and uniform criteria in practice leaves room for selective application of rules and an uneven impact on public space.
In Plužine, the construction of churches and parish houses outside construction zones is permitted, on land that is primarily agricultural, while municipal decisions on communal equipment introduce complete exemption from fees for religious buildings or are declared by the municipality as facilities of "general interest".
Thus, the local government declared the Cathedral Church in Plužine a facility of general interest and says that this is why no fee was charged for the communal equipment of the construction land. Although they do not allow access to the decisions, they state that religious buildings in several settlements - Rudinice, Goranska, Smriječna and Bajovo Polje - are exempt from paying the communal equipment fee, with the explanation that the plots are located in zones where this fee is not charged.
According to the municipal decision, while other investors are required to pay a fee of 30 to 50 euros per square meter, no fee is paid for religious buildings.
In Danilovgrad, in 2018, the local parliament exempted the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral from paying a utility fee of almost 25.000 euros for the construction of the Cathedral of St. Petka.
In Žabljak, urban planning and technical conditions enabled the construction of a large-sized Cathedral in the city center, with insufficiently precise criteria for space protection and minimal restrictions in a mountain town, which is defined in the planning as an environmentally and touristically sensitive area. They do not answer whether they exempted the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral from paying dues.
In Mojkovac, on the Štitarići municipal land, the construction of a large number of auxiliary buildings next to the existing church is permitted, with the broadly defined purpose of these buildings - from garages, storage rooms, workshops, warehouses and buildings with a business function, the number of which is not limited, also enabling the gradual formation of a complex on that municipal land. There is no answer about possible financial benefits.
In Kolašin, the urban planning and technical conditions are also related only to the Serbian Orthodox Church, to the arrangement of church complexes, smaller auxiliary facilities and temporary structures, such as fences. The dimensions are significantly smaller compared to Žabljak, and the purpose is more precisely defined than in Mojkovac. However, the Municipality of Kolašin states in its responses that it is not responsible for data on building permits and financial benefits, because these decisions were within the jurisdiction of state authorities.
In Berane, they allowed the Budimljan-Nikšić Diocese to reconstruct the Monastery of St. Archangel in Uroševica, build a parish house and a village church in Petnjik, but they do not answer whether they exempted religious buildings from paying taxes.
It's not free in Pljevlja, no benefits in Petnjica
Unlike these municipalities, in Pljevlja, documentation shows that utility fees for religious buildings have not been abolished. In that municipality, there is continuous construction and reconstruction of buildings of various religious communities, including the reconstruction and extension of buildings of the Islamic Community, the construction of a mosque, infrastructure and rehabilitation works in the Holy Trinity Monastery, and the construction and reconstruction of several Orthodox church buildings, including the Church of St. Petka. Utility fees for religious buildings have nevertheless been reduced by up to 80 percent.
Šavnik has allowed the reconstruction of the Church of St. John the Baptist, which has the status of immovable cultural property. The interventions are limited to rehabilitation, restoration and preservation of authenticity, with the consent of the competent protection institutions, so only in this case can the exemption from utility fees be interpreted as part of the policy of protecting cultural heritage.
Petnjica allowed the construction of a mosque in the local community of Tucanje back in 2015 and they claim that there were no privileges, while Tuzi claims that there were no constructions of religious buildings in the period from 2015 to the present.
22 religious buildings planned in Podgorica
Mayor of Podgorica Saša Mujović and the head of the Islamic Community in Montenegro Rifat Fejzic At the end of January this year, they signed a contract on the transfer of property rights, by which the Capital City, as the holder of the right of disposal, transfers the ownership of the construction land of 30.000 square meters to the Islamic Community Mosque without compensation, the city administration announced.
This is land in Ćemovsko polje, whose market value is close to seven million euros.
A month earlier, on December 24, the Capital City allocated land to the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral for the construction of the Church of Saint Basil of Ostrog in Konik in Podgorica. These are four plots with a total area of 2.253 square meters. On December 1, 2025, the Property Directorate of the Capital City estimated the value of the land at 473.130 euros, or 210 euros per square meter. The consent to donate the land was given by the Government, by a decision of December 10 last year.
In July, the councilors of the Capital City received a request from the Government to transfer land worth millions at the Old Airport in Podgorica to the Vatican for the construction of the Apostolic Nunciature. Mayor Mujović explained at the time that they had accepted the Government's request to donate the land, on the condition that the Government compensate the Capital City through financing one of the capital projects, since the land in question is estimated to be worth more than seven million euros.
That's not all - the new Spatial and Urban Plan (SUP) of Podgorica envisages the construction of 22 religious buildings - churches, parish houses, monasteries and mosques.
The largest number of religious buildings, according to the Capital City's Urban Development Plan, 18 of them, will be built by the Serbian Orthodox Church, one by the Catholic Church, two buildings are planned for the Islamic Community and one for the Evangelical Church.
The Serbian Orthodox Church will build two monasteries in the settlements of Tološi and Kuči, three parish houses are planned in Donja Gorica and Momišići, as well as churches and other religious buildings in Sadine, Zagorič, Velje Brdo, Ćemovsko polje, Pod Goricam, Konik...
The Islamic community will build a mosque in the Konik settlement and an Islamic center on the road to Tuzi.
The construction of a Catholic church is planned in Fundina, while the Evangelical Church of the Word of God will build a temple in the Preko Morača part of the city.
Marković: According to PUP Podgorica, we are a theocratic state
Spatial planner mr Dragoljub Markovic He points out to CIN-CG that, in the amendments to the Podgorica Urban Development Plan, about twenty locations for religious buildings suddenly appeared, which are not the result of analyses and strategic decisions by the state.
He estimates that when you look at that plan and see where it leads, it would seem that we are a theocratic state, in which society is organized by religious communities, not the state.
He also questions the fact that the Regulation on the Content and Form of Planning Documents states that religious facilities can be anything from production facilities, accommodation facilities to places of worship.
"So we don't know when you read the purpose in the PUP, what it could be. The area that is being repurposed for about a dozen of these Serbian Orthodox Church buildings is about 50.000 square meters, even in Sadine on the most fertile agricultural land," Marković points out.
Instead of local communities, parish homes will be built, Marković adds.
"For example, in Donja Gorica we don't have a local community, but we will have a parish hall. When you look at what a parish hall is, it's like a local office, a gathering place for the local population, so you get the impression that we are a society that is not organized by municipalities and local communities, but by parishes."
Now, Marković points out, they can build whatever they want in that area and create a parallel state.
"I have nothing against the construction of religious buildings, there are a few that are justified, but we should know what they are and why we are doing them. There is a danger that this will lead to permanent physical changes in the space, and the effect of that is that we become a theocratic state," he warns.
According to information obtained by CIN-CG from the Constitutional Court, two initiatives to initiate proceedings for the assessment of constitutionality and legality have been filed against the decisions on amendments to the Capital City Urban Development Plan from August 2025. Prior to that, four initiatives were submitted to the Constitutional Court in relation to amendments to the Podgorica Urban Development Plan from 2021.
"The cases are in the phase of constitutional analysis by the judge rapporteurs and constitutional court advisors, but we cannot talk about the deadlines for when the cases might be ready for decision, because that depends primarily on other cases that are already in progress," the Constitutional Court told CIN-CG.
While millions of public money and private donations are poured into the construction and maintenance of religious buildings, citizens are still left without a clear answer as to why the state, by what rules and in whose interest, so generously funds religion in a secular state.
A million from Budva, relocation of the chapel hinders the works
The Municipality of Budva and the Metropolitanate concluded an agreement on the construction of the Temple of St. Mark on November 11th last year. The agreement was signed at the Cetinje Monastery by Metropolitan Joanikije and the President of the Municipality Nikola Jovanović.
The Municipality of Budva has committed to finance the development of complete project and technical documentation, the municipal equipping of the site, as well as to award the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral a donation of one million euros, which will be planned in the Municipality's budget for 2026. Also, the local government will participate in the financing and construction of underground garages within the complex of the future temple.
The draft urban planning project for the complex of the Orthodox Cathedral in Budva was approved by the Government at a session chaired by Prime Minister Milojko Spajić in early December 2023.
One of the key objections that was accepted at the public hearing was that when relocating the chapel, which is a valuable architectural work by the famous Budva architect Slobodan Mitrović, work should be done based on the design of the chapel's current condition.
Four years ago, architect Mitrović wrote to Metropolitan Joanikije and the then chief state architect Vladan Stevović, warning them that the construction of a temple on the site of the current chapel would represent a continuation of Budva's urbanization, which, as he stated, the church has now also entered.
According to the latest information, the construction of the cathedral in Budva will not begin this year, because the plans have not yet resolved the issue of relocating the city chapel.
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