This whole thing with Vučić’s new government did not start well, but it could not have been otherwise. For the most important political position in the state, he gave us a political unknown, a person (Vučić used the terms “person” and “individual”) of zero public-political authority. The only thing he is known to the general public for is his recent forced address to Vučić’s phalanx of quasi-students in the infamous Ćaciland. This was the true inaugural speech of the future so-called prime minister. Since, as it seems, he is not a member of the SNS, and since no one in Serbia would have dreamed that Macut would be the prime minister until less than 24 hours ago, it is fair to say that Vučić has decided to do what he persistently said he would not do, that is, appoint a person to the position of prime minister without an election. If we pretend for a moment that Vučić’s mantra about the government “without an election” means anything, then it is difficult to imagine a prime minister “without an election” to a greater extent than one who is not even a member of the ruling party. Admittedly, the person in question has joined Vučić’s movement, which, let’s also note, has not yet passed the electoral “baptism”.
Appointing a politically irrelevant person as prime minister, even if we want a government of experts, only proves that such a prime minister will be a figure without any influence. There are experts who, at the same time, have political recognition, who are credible analysts of social and political events, whom the public is convinced have a clear insight into political problems and, in general, who mean something in public life, beyond their field of expertise. And while a regular minister can indeed be a person less known to the public (which is not the best solution, but not completely unacceptable), the prime minister simply has to be someone who is capable and credible enough to choose the members of the government according to clear insights into the political situation, the needs of society, the competencies and abilities of the candidates. It comes down to a practical question of (for example) criteria according to which Macut will choose a candidate for the position of minister of internal affairs in his government. What does Macut know about that department and who will he turn to for advice? As a political newcomer, he will most likely turn to completely unknown people from the current ruling coalition or, rather, to a certain specific person who will order him who to nominate for that position, as well as for all other ministerial positions. That’s how Vučić’s Macut government will be set up.
Apart from the actual election of a political nobody as prime minister, two related details are particularly indicative when it comes to the actual position that Vučić has placed doctor Djuro Macut in the political hierarchy of the state (regardless of the constitutional structure in which the prime minister is actually the strongest political authority). First, the public learned the name of the candidate for prime minister in the thirtieth (!) minute of Vučić’s press conference. This is not your ordinary humiliation, it is a conspicuous contempt, a clear message that according to Vučić’s understanding, the Prime Minister is nobody and nothing, a person he only refers to in the thirtieth minute of the press conference, after previously incoherently ranting about every possible domain of his own incompetence. Only when he has finished his tirades did Vučić announce that ephemeral trifle, the name of the person he thought of appointing as prime minister. It is hardly possible to show deeper contempt and greater disrespect.
Another significant detail is the explanation Vučić gave for his decision on the candidate for Prime Minister. The explanation made manifest, for the umpteenth time, Vučić’s trampling of the institutions of this country. Instead of stating the general motivation for a specific choice, as he explained his decision, Vučić outlined the path of political action for his candidate and, in fact, drafted his expose, which Macut will, no doubt, stick to like an obedient schoolboy. Because who is he in the government structure to ignore orders “from the highest position”, from the “boss” himself?
Since Serbia has been a republic, Macut is the second doctor at the head of its government. The first was Blagoje Nešković, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Serbia after the Second World War, a politician whose career was suddenly and dramatically cut short. As we remember Nešković’s turbulent political fate, we can opportunely recall Marx and his aphoristic interpretation of the “repetition” of history: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.
Translated by Marijana Simić
Peščanik.net, 09.04.2025.
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