Niksic, (MINA) – Leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Milo Djukanovic has accused the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) of trying to obstruct the European drive and ambitions of the Montenegrins society, in order to protect their religious monopoly in the country.
“The SPC want to obstruct the establishment of the rule of law and to further continue to use what does not belong to them under the national legal order. By doing so, they seek to correct what they consider to be shortsighted modern policies. Their message is very clear, that states come and go, and that the Church is older than all those things,” Djukanovic stated.
Speaking at the DPS electoral conference in Niksic, he said that Montenegro is a place where a hard battle is being fought between the policy pursued by the current government, which seeks to Europeanize the region, and the one that is looking to conserve the Balkans in the state of backwardness against Europe.
“The situation in Montenegro is better than elsewhere, but as we can see, our opponents are not sitting idly by, regardless of whether they appear as the opposition or as para-political organizations, taking the form of supposedly independent media, NGOs or religious organizations,” Djukanovic stated.
He accused the SPC in Montenegro of trying to preserve the infrastructure of the Greater Serbia in which they believe, ‘even if their story of cross-border eparchies goes against the core principles of Orthodox organization elsewhere in the world’.
“They believe that it was by mistake that Montenegro became independent and that the time will come and we will recognize our mistakes and the need to start rebuilding the Greater Serbia. We, of course, need to show our resilience, determination and vision, and tell them that this is never going to happen,” Djukanovic said.
He underlined Montenegro’s unwavering determination to build a multiethnic society, market economy and a society that respects European values.
Djukanovic noted that some important steps in that direction have already been taken, while another major step remains, ‘which will correct a grave injustice done to Montenegro in the early 20th century, meaning the restoration of the autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC).
“Whether someone likes it or not, we will be very committed to this task, fully in line with the core principles of the democratic Montenegro and the basic program principles of the DPS, as a keystone of our modern state,” said he.
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