In the end, he was only in office for three and a half months: Because of the signing of a contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church, a majority was formed in the Montenegrin parliament against the head of government. The Church is a vehicle for Belgrade to expand its influence in the region.
In the NATO country of Montenegro, parliament overthrew the government of Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, who had been in office for only three and a half months. 50 out of 81 MPs voted in favor that night on the initiative of President Milo Djukanovic’s DPS party and four other parliamentary groups. Only one MP voted against the motion, the other MPs boycotted the vote. The eco-liberal Abazovic had angered the head of state a good two weeks earlier because he had signed a controversial contract with the Serbian Orthodox Church. For the time being, Abazovic is likely to continue to govern on an interim basis until a decision is made about his successor.
The 36-year-old Abazovic only took office on April 28, after the previous, mostly pro-Serb government had been overthrown in parliament. Like Djukanovic, Abazovic is considered pro-Western. He had led a minority government, with a motley coalition that included his URA party, Greens, Social Democrats, ethnic Albanian and Bosniak parties, and a pro-Serb party. The head of government promised to take action against corruption in the country and to press ahead with the accession process to the EU.
The church contract is considered controversial because it grants the Serbian-controlled Orthodox Church special rights. Their leadership has never really come to terms with the state independence of Montenegro. The former Yugoslav republic became independent in 2006 – at that time in agreement with the Serbian state. Today the government in Belgrade is trying to regain more influence in Montenegro through the church and local pro-Serbian parties and organizations. President Djukanovic – a harsh critic of the Serbian Orthodox Church – used the agreement to create anti-government sentiment and insist on new elections.
Three days earlier, tensions between Abazovic and parliament had also meant that the election of members for a politically independent judiciary council in the parliament failed. The EU Commission had called for this step several times. The small Adriatic country has been a member of NATO since 2017 and is aiming to join the EU.
