Opposition on Vucic's Stance on Parliament: Usual Bluff Whenever Regime Is in Crisis

Radomir Lazovic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The opposition considers Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's statement that parliament speaker Ana Brnabic should put a request for her own and the recall of the Serbian government on the parliament's agenda, the usual bluff the regime uses whenever it is in crisis, but also more proof of his overstepping his presidential powers.

Vucic said late on Dec. 11 that Brnabic should certainly put any requests for her own and the dismissal of the prime minister on the agenda, whoever may submit them.

Serbia Center party leader Zdravko Ponos told the Danas newspaper that Vucic's statement that he had asked Brnabic to put debates on confidence in her and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic on the agenda was a joke. Vucic, as Ponos put it, thereby confirmed that he was controlling Brnabic's respect for the parliamentary rules of procedure.

Free Citizens Movement MP Pavle Grbovic sees Vucic's statement as a bluff. "It is, of course, a bluff, because if it wasn't we would have had a debate on confidence in Vucevic two weeks ago and then there would have been no unpleasant scenes in the parliament," said Grbovic.

According to him, it is clear that the authorities have been running from a debate for almost two months now, "because they are aware that in a debate they cannot escape the truth and responsibility."

Vucic's requests, appeals and demands, in the words of Green-Left Front whip Radomir Lazovic, reveal the actual situation in the state, i.e. that Vucic goes beyond his constitutional powers on a daily basis.

Lazovic believes that "it is unimportant in this case because there is a law and the rules of procedure according to which Brnabic's dismissal must be on the (parliament's) agenda."

"Initiating no confidence in the government and launching the dismissal of Brnabic is important because Serbian citizens should through RTS (whose Channel 2 broadcasts parliament sittings) hear the opposition's arguments about the authorities' hands being bloody, and the fact that Brnabic was ready for anything to prevent a sitting on no confidence in the government from happening shows how important that is," he pointed out.

His party colleague Djordje Pavicevic added that this was a move Vucic regularly made whenever the regime was in crisis and that in such circumstances he suspended all institutions and reduced the crisis to a vote on him.

Democratic Party leader Zoran Lutovac thinks Vucic is unworthy of the office he performs, that he cannot communicate normally, "but also that he is the generator of all divisions and intolerance in society."

Opposition MPs have again submitted a request for the dismissal of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, but this time also for the dismissal of National Assembly Speaker Ana Brnabic. Justifying the request for the latter, the MPs said that she bore political responsibility for the state the country was in.