Some complete idiots passed a law with the sole purpose of making it impossible for the Supreme Student of Law to speak exactly where and when it would be appropriate.
That’s how I understood Vučić’s whining at the ceremony near Niš, on Sunday.
What is this actually about?
For more than a decade, Vučić has usurped all possible positions – when he was “deputy prime minister” (a position that, at the time, did not exist) he spoke as prime minister, when he became prime minister he spoke in the name of the president, and as president he makes decisions instead of the Government and the Parliament. As parts of the Serbian state faded away and collapsed one by one, Vučić filled the gap left behind them – the judiciary, independent bodies, etc. Finally, he began explaining to professionals how to do their jobs. The only thing left is for him to explain to pregnant women how to give birth.
And finally, when it was actually his turn to do something that the Constitution, the law and protocol prescribe – when he hosted two presidents and when he was supposed to speak at the ceremony on the occasion of the commissioning of the Serbia-Bulgaria gas interconnection, he explained to them that he can’t, because of the “stupid rules” in Serbia, that “when you do something for your country, for a month before the elections you are not allowed to brag about it”.
Please don’t count me as Vučić supporter just yet, but I have to agree with him here. The rules are stupid. They are stupid because, contrary to what Vučić says, they do not prohibit officials from doing anything. I have written about it so many times – only the electronic media are not allowed (otherwise REM would sanction them) to report on certain activities (only ceremonial openings and foundation laying ceremonies) of certain officials – only presidential candidates, members of parliament and councilors, for the last thirty days of the campaign. And Vučić is none of those.
We could use a slight euphemism – less for the sake of the presidents of Bulgaria and Azerbaijan, and more for the cameras and voters, Vučić was playing dumb, trying to portray himself as a victim who is not allowed to campaign. To put it more bluntly – he is knowingly lying. Probably for the same reason mentioned above.
That is, of course, his right. Which he has been using extensively for the last 11 years and which brings results. The fact that the “mainstream” (read: regime) media keep repeating his lies, without any question, is their own sin. And the smallest one, if sins can be weighed against each other. Is it less against the journalistic profession to uncritically broadcast lies or to actively lead a party campaign and anti-campaign, to organize insulting debates about (absent) individuals and organizations – be it oppositionists, journalists, activists?
It’s a difficult topic (although some would say – the most important for the regularity of elections), so let’s go back to the beginning and to Vučić’s problems with campaigning as an official and to the work that officials actually do, whether those loose restrictions apply to them or not.
Here are some colorful moments from the campaign – let’s see what the other Vučićs and Dačićs are up to.
We still regularly see ministers swarming to any municipality hosting an SNS rally. When, for example, a rally was organized in Kruševac, it was a lucky coincidence that on the same day Vučić happened to be in town (visiting the Health Center) as did the Minister of Justice (touring the Correctional Center in Kruševac, where she also visited the church of the Holy Apostles Philemon and Onesimus, which was recently built within the Center), and that a section of the Moravian Corridor was just opened to traffic.
The following day, a rally was held in Vranje, and, again, a coincidence – Darija Kisić in an elementary school promoting the results of the project aptly named “Family – a fortress for all”, then visiting a random family, the Minister of Justice in the Eparchy of Vranje, and the Minister of Health visiting mammograms in the reconstructed Health center.
Awarding charters and titles of honorary citizens to ministers is also not new, I have already written about it, and what better opportunity for such actions than during the campaign.
Thus, the Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Aleksandar Martinović, received a Charter for exceptional contribution to the development and affirmation of the municipality of Lebane, and at the ceremony he recalled the long-term cooperation and partnership between the ministry and Lebane. In Knić, Martinović, on behalf of the ministry, received a plaque “for exceptional results and long-term successful cooperation with this municipality.”
Goran Vesić was awarded for his contribution to the development and affirmation of Žabare because, as explained by the mayor of the municipality, his work showed that he does not differentiate between large and small municipalities.
Vesić became an honorary citizen of Ćuprija on October 14, but there was no opportunity to present him with the recognition until ten days before the elections. We learned from a local official what Vesić did to earn this high recognition – he communicates daily with representatives of all local self-governments – it is this different approach compared to other ministers that earned Vesić this award.
Speaking of Vesić, the Supreme Communicator, his hyperactivity and dozens of promotional activities still allowed him a moment for poetry. Namely, he promised the residents of Bistrica, near Petrovac na Mlavi, that he would come to the ceremony called Days of the Millers because he “grew up with his grandparents in the countryside”, “he knows what a mill is, what flour is”. The ministry, promised the nostalgic Vesić, will help in the restoration of the mills, which are our treasure and characteristic of our culture. “‘I will certainly come to the Days of the Millers, for the little Easter. To eat polenta. For me, there is no better meal,’ said the minister, recalling his childhood,” – said the website of the Ministry of Construction. Pigs’ heads were not mentioned.
Aleksandar Šapić was filmed and photographed almost every day in places where constructions have already started, more often in places where they are yet to start. So, in Višnjička Banja, he happened to present a vision of a school copied and pasted from a project in Utah in the USA and a vision of a kindergarten from the 2020 project for the European kindergarten in Bor.
Like his predecessors in office, he drove journalists to all activities at the expense of the city, sometimes, to make matters worse, without having anything to tell them. For example, when he gathered them at the Sports Center “Banjica” to announce that the institution will come under the auspices of the City “as soon as it is formally possible”. Or when he visited the “Ranko Žeravica” hall, because the following day school and kindergarten directors, as well as representatives of municipalities, were to collect vouchers intended for schoolchildren and preschoolers there.
It’s interesting that Šapić’s actions were presented on the city’s website as the activities of the president of a temporary body, and on the party’s website as the activities of the SNS candidate for mayor.
Finally, it should be noted that Šapić did not shy away from the most difficult topics – from theater criticism. He watched the 150th performance of the play “The Book About Milutin” and concluded that “this is a masterpiece, in which the maestral Mr. Jezdić, in a performance we can freely say has become iconic, does not merely play, but lives his character. In days like this, when we remember our glorious history, perhaps we should all think hard about the sacrifices our ancestors made and what they had to go through so that we can live in a free country today. This is one of those plays that makes you think deeply about everything.” In the end, he congratulated Jezdić and “expressed great respect for this performance.” I haven’t seen it, I confess, and I don’t know anything about Jezdić’s performance – whether he stands on one leg, on his head, or is submerged in an aquarium with piranhas.
This year’s regional (Open Balkan) Wine Fair was not held in September, a year after the previous one, but during the campaign. So it was an opportunity for the promotional activities of the Supreme Connoisseur of Wine, but also an opportunity for, for example, the President of the Parliament to present an award for the best brandy. It remains unclear what the parliament and its president have to do with the fair and brandy. And, given the reputation imposed on him by Vučić, it would be more appropriate if the awards were presented by the acting director of Roads of Serbia.
Defense Minister Milos Vučević (president of SNS, in case you’ve forgotten) managed to keep up with the veterans of the official campaign when it comes to the number of promotional activities. One day he had as many as three (handing out sabers, handing out commemorative medals to religious officials, showing new weapons), two on the following day (visiting heating installations in the barracks and opening a renovated square in Kragujevac), and in the end he managed to combine activities that cover the responsibilities of half the government and local governments – in one municipality he visited the municipal office of the Ministry of Defense, toured the construction at the market, and a kindergarten.
Such activities, which have little or, more often, nothing to do with Vučević’s department and jurisdiction, aren’t, of course, exclusive to him.
Aleksandar Martinović, for example, after visiting a place in Kraljevo where “the construction of a modern children’s playground is planned” which “maybe could be” financed by MDULS, visited a private business which produces cakes, where he said that the Government will “continue to support domestic businesses” and finally donated computers to “Kraljevo City Administration and Žiča Monastery as a form of support for development and daily functioning”. He had similar adventures with the private sector in other places he visited.
We’ve also seen protocols and agreements being signed whose point we couldn’t even begin to guess. Minister of Internal Affairs Bratislav Gašić, together with the rector of the University of Belgrade, prof. Dr. Vladan Đokić, signed an Agreement on scientific, professional and educational cooperation in managing emergency situations and disaster risks. It was “explained,” if you can call it that, that the goal of cooperation is joint work on strengthening capacities for providing an adequate response to modern challenges, risks and threats in emergency situations. So we found out that Serbia lacks personnel, that it is important to “fight so that our children who graduate, get their master’s degree, get their doctorate, do not leave our beautiful Serbia”. It is not clear if the firefighters will prevent them from leaving. The rector did not contribute to our enlightenment on the topic – he said that the agreement will enable the academic community and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with their theoretical and practical knowledge, to contribute to mitigating and reducing the consequences of emergency situations for each individual and society as a whole.
We’ve also seen the signing of a protocol between two ministries (in the same government, this government on a technical mandate) on cooperation. The protocol on cooperation between the Ministry of Internal and Foreign Trade and the Ministry of Education will enable “students to become even better acquainted with consumer rights and ways to protect them through various activities at school.”
However, cooperation between SNS and SPS is not always smooth as when it comes to consumer rights. In the campaign, conflict between SPS and SNS flared up. It was not just about testing Dačić’s loyalty, or tabloid drilling of Bajatović and Braunović, or the battle for Surdulica. No, the real fight was over kindergartens.
Darija Kisić Tepavčević, Minister of Care, Family and Demographics, based a good part of her promotional activities on kindergarten tours. Kindergarten – children – family – demographics, everything is crystal clear. And then Slavica Đukić Dejanović remembered that preschool education, according to the Law on Ministries, is under the jurisdiction of her Ministry of Education. And the race began to see who could visit more kindergartens, bring more gifts, make a more beautiful statement and take more colorful and beautiful photos. The police made sure that the battle would not escalate into a war. Slavica Đukić Dejanović was joined in her tour of kindergartens in Kruševac by none other than Bratislav Gašić. As if he would let her run around his electoral base unaccompanied.
Translated by Marijana Simić
Peščanik.net, 26.12.2023.
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