Head of the Montenegro's ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and former prime minister Milo Djukanovic has said that the party is in favour of an independent Orthodox church in Montenegro, because it wishes to overcome heated divisions among Orthodox faithful, but also because the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral is not in accordance with the interests of Montenegro.

The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral is autonomous, but still a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and it is not sufficiently in line with Montenegro's national interests, Djukanovic said commenting on the DPS initiative to form an independent Montenegrin church.

"The metropolitanate, however autonomous it may be, is a part of the Serbian Orthodox Church, whose headquarters is in Serbia, meaning a country that does not look favourably on Montenegro's independence. It functions by harmonizing its interest with the Serbian national interest. It is fairly logical that if we want an Orthodox church, it needs to be in harmony with the Montenegrin government," Djukanovic explained.

Djukanovic told TV Montenegro that the DPS as a party in power was interested in full political stability and wanted to end the division that existed beteen the Orthodox.