EU, Russia, and U.S. "all pressuring Vucic"

EU, Russia, and U.S. "all pressuring Vucic"

Vucic, whose SNS party convincing won in the April 24 early parliamentary election, said he was facing "problems" but would not reveal any details.

This statement has been interpreted by the country's political public ever since it was made, with a majority concluding that it came as a result of pressure coming from the European Union, Russia, but also the Unites States.

Belgrade-based daily Blic is reporting it has "concrete findings" about which potential ministers in Serbia's next government are contentious, that is - "which power center wants which player."

In mid-May, Vucic said Serbia would have a new government soon and that only the names of two future ministers were not known at that point.

However, the circumstances seem to have changed, and so the paper writes that "the West is demanding that Culture and Information Minister Ivan Tasovac - by the way, a Russian student - and State Administration Minister Kori Udovicki remain in the cabinet."

According to Blic, "the same side" is also asking that Vucic leaves out of his new cabinet some of his closest associates, including Justice Minister Nikola Selakovic.

On the other hand, "Moscow is demanding that the energy sector remains in the hands of the Socialists (SPS) - i.e., probably that (Energy Minister) Aleksandar Antic should keep his job."

The media previously speculated that the Russians had managed to have Antic and Zorana Mihajlovic "switch ministerial positions in Vucic's government formed in 2014," when Mihajlovic took over as minister of construction and infrastructure. She is described as an energy expert who served as minister of energy in the previous government headed by Ivica Dacic.

Vucic's sudden trip to Moscow in May and his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin also caused a stir in Serbia. Putin said at the time that he "hoped that whatever new government’s composition, it will give a worthy place to people who give serious attention to developing the relations between the Russian Federation and Serbia."

Analyst Bosko Jaksic recently spoke for B92 to say this marked the beginning of the most serious crisis in relations between Serbia and the West since Vucic became prime minister. Jaksic made these comments after Vucic announced he had canceled his trips to Brussels and the United States, and then met with U.S. and EU ambassadors in Belgrade.

Blic is reporting on Monday, citing an unnamed source it said was "close to the Progressives (SNS)," that Vucic has "always resisted, while foreigners have always pressured (him)."

"It's like that now. The message that he has problems and that he could, as a last resort, leave that (the premiership) to someone else, was sent to foreigners, but also to his party colleagues, whose appetites have increased suddenly and with no justification," the source said.

Analyst Dragomir Andjelkovic, described as being "close to the SNS," said the EU has been giving itself more leeway in influencing political events in Serbia after the opening of chapters 23 and 24 in the country's EU accession negotiations.

According to him, Vucic's statement was "a preventive message" stating that he would not be a partner in forming a government "based on somebody's diktat." Andjelkovic also thinks this was a message to Vucic's coalition partners - "that is, a signal Serbia could be headed toward new elections."

This analyst told Belgrade-based daily Politika that coalition partners are now gaining greatly in importance, "due to the need to change the Constitution during the negotiating process with the EU, that is, the need to have a two-thirds majority in parliament."

CeSID analyst Djordje Vukovic also spoke for the newspaper to say Vucic's message was meant for "those parties with whom he expects to cooperate in the government, to make sure they don't ask for too much."

Vukovic said that the SNS is now "not in the same position, with the current distribution of mandates," but stressed that he thought Vucic would in the end "certainly" form a government.

Vucic's coalition partner in the now caretaker government, Minister Aleksandar Vulin, also spoke about "pressures" on Monday:

"Serbia takes care of its own interests and I am sure the prime minister will withstand the pressure and will lead the Serbian government, as demanded by the citizens."