The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, gave in to the demands of environmental protests: the Law on Expropriation is withdrawn from the procedure, the Law on Referendum and People's Initiative will be amended in accordance with the criticisms of the road blockade organizers.
Vučić announced this in another address to the nation on Wednesday at 18 p.m. in a live broadcast. He said that he would propose it to the Government, as if the Government of the Republic of Serbia was wondering something. To make everything clear, Vučić said that they would not have a majority in the National Assembly, even if ministers and/or Prime Minister Ana Brnabić contradicted him.
Thus, the formal reasons for Saturday's protests were removed from the agenda.
This statesmanlike, for his terms moderate, normal performance of President Vučić, showed all the abnormality of the Serbian society and political system. Instead of solving problems in state institutions, citizens have no choice but to put pressure on the government on the street to act in accordance not only with the law, but also with common sense.
Democracy in the populist way means that it is necessary for a sufficient number of people to gather around a specific problem at protests, to block vital roads, to be persistent, determined and ready for anything, in order to solve their life issues. Organizers of environmental protests have come up with a recipe for progressive autocracy.
Government representatives and the controlled media called the people who protested "terrorists" who harass honest people. No matter how much Vučić tried to explain that he did not give in "before the street", but that he went out to meet "concerned, honest people" from the villages around Jdra, this was exactly the case. He gave in to "terrorists", people he himself called "foreign mercenaries".
"This is going out to meet the concerned citizens," said Vučić, so whoever believes, believed. Since he has been in power, it is his first real defeat.
However, the Rio Tinto case was not removed from the agenda. The government will only do everything to delay it until after the parliamentary, Belgrade and presidential elections in early April.
From its point of view, the government made a wise move to resolve this environmental issue before the start of the election campaign, around which a critical mass could gather. The estimate was that the number of people at the protests would grow.
Due to the situation, Vučić lashed out at the Government and ministers and shifted all the blame to them. The message for his voters was: well, I can't do it all by myself either, but they are replaceable, I am not. He willingly admitted part of his guilt, because even he can't do everything by himself.
Vučić will carry the campaign of the Serbian Progressive Party in the spring, so he tried to wash himself of all responsibility. The ministers in his government will also do it submissively.
At the beginning of his address, he once again held a short tirade about the champion Serbian economy, the record-breaking construction of roads and railways. He promised that Serbia, under his rule, would also become an "ecological champion". Just the other day, he said that he would "probably" sign the Law on Expropriation.
The progressive system showed its weakness for the first time. The image of President Vučić, as a fearless, unyielding, invincible tribune of the people, has been tarnished.
The government has learned its lesson, the question is whether the opposition has also learned and could build on this victory, which was won by environmental activists who were unknown to the general public. There are many affairs and problems.
Savo Manojlović from Kreni-Promeni called on Friday evening for a victory celebration on Republic Square, if the first and formal demands of the environmental protest are met.
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