Ne damo svetinje: The Orthodox Church’s Political Role in Montenegro

Montenegrin politics have been shaped since independence by the instrumentalization of its ethnoreligious cleavages for political purposes. The adoption by the Democratic Party of Socialists, the ruling party until 2020, of a ‘Law on Religious Freedom’ targeting the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, the largest Orthodox denomination in the country, triggered mass clergy-led protests, known locally as Litije. The Litije positioned the Church as the country’s most important non-Parliamentary political actor, a role it has continued to play following the 2023 Parliamentary elections. This article examines the political influence of the Metropolitanate in Montenegro since 2019 against the backdrop of the ethnoreligious cleavages that characterise the country and its political system. It also proposes a set of policy recommendations for Hungarian decision-makers to engage and establish institutional relations with the Metropolitanate as a supportive measure to its Montenegrin and broader Balkan policy.