The president addressed the rebellious citizens and explained that they are being lied to by everyone. Lithium mining is not dangerous for the environment. He was sitting in a garden, surrounded by trees and grass. Like La Vie en rose, only in green. The president rolled up his sleeves, even smiled. He was (supposedly) relaxed, completely unconcerned that anything could spoil the lithium plans. And everything would be exactly like that, if it weren’t completely different.

Yesterday we learned that a new record was set for the local response to protests against lithium mining. In Kosjerić, about 750 residents came out to protest, which would proportionally correspond to a turnout of about 280,000 people in Belgrade. It was similar on Monday in Šabac. A rally was held there with over 7,000 people, which, according to published data, would correspond to about 200,000 people in the capital. Besides Kosjerić and Šabac, rallies in Bogatić, Loznica, Ljig and Krupanj also had a higher response rate than the protest on October 5, 2000. And all this happened at the end of July.

That’s why, as a solution, along with the scenery, the president offered a referendum. He repeated this twice in the past seven days. The first time, it seemed that the referendum question could be tailored to lithium. For example – do you want us to be rich and mine lithium? As of tonight, it is clear that the president cannot risk even such a biased, unconstitutional, and inevitably stolen, referendum.

That’s why, instead of a lithium referendum, he offered – himself. That is, he announced a referendum on the dismissal of the president. In political and legal theory, a direct referendum on any person is called a plebiscite, and it does not have a good reputation. It is considered a primitive, manipulative and even desperate instrument of rule.

Apart from this theoretical problem, there are several others with attempting this in Serbia. First of all, the procedure for dismissing the president is prescribed in Article 118 of the Constitution – the president of the Republic is dismissed for violation of the Constitution, by decision of the National Assembly, with the votes of at least two-thirds of the MPs. The procedure is initiated by one third of the MPs, and the Constitutional Court, before the final vote on dismissal, declares whether the president has violated the Constitution. Also, Article 108 of the Constitution forbids the issues which are under the competence of the National Assembly to be the subject of referendums (which include the issues concerning election and dismissal, in accordance with Article 99 of the Constitution).

Therefore, the only possible way to dismiss the President of the Republic would be through the Constitutional Court and the votes of SNS MPs. Absurd – I agree.

That’s why Vučić’s offer serves no other goal but to anesthetize the rebellious citizens who are supposed to believe that there will be no mines in the next 18 months. The deadline for the so-called referendum on Vučić should obscure the deadline which the citizens gave the Government of Serbia – August 10th.

But let’s return to the essence of the protest. People are not in the streets because they are challenging the election of the president. Moreover, it is possible that many of those same citizens voted for him, by their own free will or under duress. The citizens are protesting against a political deal that stipulates that lithium is to be mined on fertile and inhabited soil, despite the great environmental risks that even rich and powerful countries with functional institutions cannot mitigate.

In last night’s performance in green, it seems that Vučić has reached the end of the road by offering himself as a stand-in for lithium, that is, by identifying with it. This may mean that mining all over Serbia is really the last card this regime has on the international stage, as they have already gambled and sold everything else.

Whatever the outcome of the lithium protests, we are undoubtedly witnessing a novelty which was inevitable. A politician who has built his personal power on destruction becomes a potential political victim of his most destructive project.

Translated by Marijana Simić

Peščanik.net, 07.08.2024.


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Sofija Mandić

Sofija Mandić je rođena 1986. u Novom Sadu. Diplomirana je pravnica, posrednica u mirnom rešavanju sporova i aktivistkinja za ljudska prava. Radi u Centru za pravosudna istraživanja (CEPRIS), a prethodno je bila angažovana u Beogradskom centru za bezbednosnu politiku i Nacionalnom demokratskom institutu. Generalna je sekretarka Peščanika, sa kojim sarađuje od 2007, kao učesnica u radijskim emisijama, a zatim i kao autorka tekstova. Autorka, koautorka i urednica je brojnih analiza o vladavini prava, stanju ljudskih prava u Srbiji i njihovoj perspektivi. Neke od skorašnjih su: Izbori pred Upravnim sudom 2022 – pregled postupanja i odluka (ur. CEPRIS, 2022), Izveštaj o javnosti rada Visokog saveta sudstva i Državnog veća tužilaca (CEPRIS, 2022), Sloboda izražavanja pred sudom (ur. SĆF, 2021-2022), Rad sudova tokom epidemije zarazne bolesti COVID-19 (OEBS, 2021), Ljudska prava u Srbiji (BCLJP, 2018-2023), Naša urušena prava (FES, 2019), Uslovi za izbor i napredovanje sudija i tužilaca u pravnom obrazovanju (CEPRIS, 2018), Skorašnji Ustav Srbije – rodna perspektiva (ŽPRS, 2017). Kao predstavnica civilnog društva učestvovala je u procesu izrade komentara i mišljenja na izmene Ustava iz 2022, kao i zakona koji proizlaze iz ovih promena. Autorka je knjige „U krugu negacije, godine parlamentarnog (ne)suočavanja sa lošom prošlošću u Srbiji“ (2023).

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Author: Sofija Mandić

Sofija Mandić je rođena 1986. u Novom Sadu. Diplomirana je pravnica, posrednica u mirnom rešavanju sporova i aktivistkinja za ljudska prava. Radi u Centru za pravosudna istraživanja (CEPRIS), a prethodno je bila angažovana u Beogradskom centru za bezbednosnu politiku i Nacionalnom demokratskom institutu. Generalna je sekretarka Peščanika, sa kojim sarađuje od 2007, kao učesnica u radijskim emisijama, a zatim i kao autorka tekstova. Autorka, koautorka i urednica je brojnih analiza o vladavini prava, stanju ljudskih prava u Srbiji i njihovoj perspektivi. Neke od skorašnjih su: Izbori pred Upravnim sudom 2022 – pregled postupanja i odluka (ur. CEPRIS, 2022), Izveštaj o javnosti rada Visokog saveta sudstva i Državnog veća tužilaca (CEPRIS, 2022), Sloboda izražavanja pred sudom (ur. SĆF, 2021-2022), Rad sudova tokom epidemije zarazne bolesti COVID-19 (OEBS, 2021), Ljudska prava u Srbiji (BCLJP, 2018-2023), Naša urušena prava (FES, 2019), Uslovi za izbor i napredovanje sudija i tužilaca u pravnom obrazovanju (CEPRIS, 2018), Skorašnji Ustav Srbije – rodna perspektiva (ŽPRS, 2017). Kao predstavnica civilnog društva učestvovala je u procesu izrade komentara i mišljenja na izmene Ustava iz 2022, kao i zakona koji proizlaze iz ovih promena. Autorka je knjige „U krugu negacije, godine parlamentarnog (ne)suočavanja sa lošom prošlošću u Srbiji“ (2023).