What is a public trust government? What would it lead to? Why does the regime challenge it so much, or what is it so afraid of? What do the examples from the neighborhood say?
Fifty days were needed for the National Assembly to state the resignation of Prime Minister Miloš Vučević, irrevocably given on January 28, but only on television. When the progressives in the National Assembly, under the watchful eye of President Ana Brnabić, voted 60 or so bills and when there was nowhere else to go, it was finally time to state - Miloš Vučević is now the prime minister in resignation, the government is in a technical mandate, and if we do not vote for a new mandate and ministers within 30 days, we will go to extraordinary elections.
The day after Vučević's ephemeral prime ministerial career ended, the largely united opposition presented its own proposal for a way out of the crisis: a government of people's trust, fixed for nine months, which will ensure the minimum conditions for the realization of student demands and prepare free and fair elections.
Dragan J. Vučićević, editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief of "Informer", watched the press conference of the parliamentary opposition. Vučić's chief media warrior also had a say in what to say - a fierce volley of insults, even by the standards of Informer's "college", flew from Peka Dapčević Boulevard towards the National Assembly building.
The proposal of the opposition, therefore, seriously bothered the biggest loyalist of Serbia, aptly named Vučićević. This is interesting for two reasons. First, common sense and basic moral principles suggest to the average person that he does everything opposite to what the editor-in-chief of "Informer" considers good and right. Second, knowing about his extremely close ties with the regime, it is natural for Vučićević to be bothered by something that could threaten his role as the president's favorite propagandist.
Could a government of people's trust mark the beginning of the end of this government? Is that why DJV is so nervous? Does this nervousness spread to other layers of the Serbian Progressive Party?
GOVERNMENT OF PEOPLE'S TRUST
First, it should be explained what a government of popular trust is, as a type of temporary government. For the regime, it means: coming to power without an election. "They have now become so arrogant and rude that they came here and said 'we are giving an ultimatum, from now on we are the government. There are no elections and we don't want elections,'" said the President of the National Assembly, Ana Brnabić, immediately after the opposition conference.
In a crazy way, Ana Brnabić is somewhat right. The opposition will really not go to the elections, but only in an unequal game in which the winner is known in advance. One of the main tasks of the transitional government would be to start the process of healing the electoral process in Serbia, first of all, by opening and revising the voter list, and then by sanctioning media workers and media that violate the basic rules of the profession - that's how we came to the answer to the question about what made DJV angry.
The head of this government would have to be a non-partisan person around whom all actors in the Assembly, as well as the general public, would reach a consensus. The government would be predominantly expert, with the restriction that the most important ministries must not be favored by progressives and the condition that none of the candidates, both for ministers and for prime minister, must have corruption scandals behind them.
However, the government strongly opposes this concept. Miloš Vučević, the prime minister and formal president of SNS the day before yesterday, said that the deputies of his party will certainly not vote for the "transitional, blackmailing, fraudulent" government. One of the reasons why progressives reject the very idea of a transitional government is that, as Ana Brnabić said, it would be "contrary to the Constitution".
NO VIOLATION OF THE CONSTITUTION
Would the formation of some kind of transitional government violate the 2006 Constitution? Law professor and former president of the Provincial Government of Vojvodina Bojan Pajtić says - no. As he previously explained to "Vreme", the institute of the transitional government is not a constitutionally defined category.
Furthermore, Pajtić points out that the transitional government is characterized by a much shorter mandate than is the case under normal circumstances, as well as limited tasks that are usually related to creating conditions for democratic elections.
"Formally, the transitional government has the same competences as any other government, but its 'expiration period', as well as the range of activities, is limited by the political agreement of the parties, whose representatives in the assembly that government depends on," he emphasizes.
Often the terms "transitional" and "technical" government are used as synonyms, although there is a significant difference between them. Unlike the interim government, the technical government is most often formed when its mandate holder resigns, that is, when the parliament votes no confidence in it. Then it is called the government in resignation and, as a rule, it does not have the authority to make far-reaching decisions, but deals only with ongoing issues. As of March 19, the government of Miloš Vučević officially became a government with a technical mandate.
INTERIM GOVERNMENTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Although the term interim government is used in public discourse as a single one, the truth is that each interim government is specific in its own way. Admittedly, their essence is the same everywhere, political consultant Dušan Milenković explains for "Vreme".
"The essence of such proposals, both comparatively and historically, is the transition of power and responsibility from one center to several centers. The goals of transitional governments are set, and this is one of their peculiarities - they have very narrowly set goals, which is not the case with governments because they deal with all the problems in society," points out Milenković.
They have in common that they act in a limited period of time, and are formed in some kind of extraordinary circumstances, whatever their cause may be. For example, interim expert governments in Greece and Italy were formed in 2011 to pull their countries out of a devastating economic crisis and then organize new elections.
We have the most recent example of a provisional government in the neighborhood. In North Macedonia, in 2024, Talat Xhaferi was elected prime minister of the transitional government, 100 days before the election. The primary goal of this government was the preparation of free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections, and in it the then largest opposition party VMRO-DPMNE received two ministers - for internal affairs and for labor and social policy. The result of the election was such that VMRO-DPMNE returned to power after seven years. It is interesting that it left there in the same way: since in 2016 its then leader and Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski resigned due to a major political crisis and accusations of corruption - doesn't that sound familiar from somewhere - a transitional government was formed for 100 days that prepared early elections, and VMRO-DPMNE went into opposition.
In the case of Serbia, the transitional government would last much longer than the mentioned 100 days, which may further fuel the panic of the people in power. If the students managed to get the citizens out of complete apathy in four months, what would happen if the Regulatory Body for Electronic Media started reacting to the daily violations of the law by televisions that have long been mere propaganda services? And he did his job for, say, nine months.
THE ESSENCE IS ALWAYS THE SAME
Another example of a transitional government from the neighborhood comes from Montenegro, where an electoral trust government was formed in 2016, as a result of an agreement between, at that time, the ruling Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and certain opposition parties. Its goal was, once again, to secure democratic parliamentary elections. To this day, it remains the only transitional government in Montenegrin history, and with its formation, for the first time in the political history of this country, representatives of the opposition were given a significant role in the executive power.
In post-conflict or crisis situations, with the aim of involving all political parties in order to stabilize the situation and reach consensus on key reforms, national unity governments are formed. This happened, for example, in the Republic of South Africa in 1994, after the collapse of the apartheid regime, as well as in Iraq 10 years later, after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
However, trust in Serbian politicians is traditionally low - although the opposition is currently a few percent better than the government, according to the New Serbian Political Thought survey, which "Vreme" exclusively published in the last issue. That is why experts, independent, politically untainted experts are taking the stage in Serbia, who will use their knowledge and skills to help the country overcome the crisis.
Since governments of national unity and expert governments are usually temporary, they are often called "types" of transitional governments. The interlocutor of "Vremena" believes, on the other hand, that such terminology is not correct. "What is called by different names is not a form, it is only one way of implementing the transitional government, and their essence is, as already mentioned, the transition of power", emphasizes Milenkovic.
IMPORT OF A NEW MANDATES
Regardless of its name, the transitional government would seriously threaten the monopoly of power established by the Serbian Progressive Party in 13 years. Hence the strong indignation and Vučić's promise that he will not allow such a thing as long as he lives.
However, it seems that the climate is slowly changing in CIS as well. Even the first among them opened the door to a new scenario when he said in Brussels on March 19 that "there may be a transitional government", but only if people from his party do not listen to him. Of course, a transitional government led by the SNS would hardly be a true transitional government that would enable a peaceful transition of power and cut the branch on which they are sitting.
A more likely option is that Vučić intended to create some kind of expert government and "import" a new representative from abroad, as Slobodan Milošević once did with businessman Milan Panić. But in an atmosphere where progressive officials are being beaten, the question is who would accept that role.
"None of us can be expert enough, nor should we evaluate every road section, every airplane purchase, every state project, such as the Expo, such as the national stadium. It is the state that should prove that we need it, regardless of what we think. But there is none."
Vučić's counter-rallies and counter-myths have failed, the price of power is getting higher and the economy is getting weaker, fear in society has been overcome and anger has become chronic, parts of the police and judiciary are refusing to obey. The regime's room for maneuver has narrowed, the question is how the rebellious citizens led by the students will use it
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