Good morning! Many criticize President Milatovic for his condescending attitude towards Aleksandar Vucic. What can be concluded from their interaction so far?
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What does Milatovic’s relationship with Vucic tell us?
President Milatovic has one very good habit, characteristic of every political novice. He is not afraid of direct and spontaneous communication and communicates with people himself. However, direct communication on social networks is risky, even more so if it is spontaneous. Thus, he runs the risk of empowering radicals like Nebojsa Babovic and Vlado Georgiev on the networks, and people identifying him with them.
Yesterday, singer and radical right-wing activist Vlado Georgiev (Georgiev – Bulgarian origin) tagged the presidents of Serbia and Montenegro on Twitter, along with the Russian ambassador to Serbia, and asked them if they liked the song Podmoskovske Veceri (Moscow Nights). Milatovic was the only one to answer that he loves it, but that he doesn’t know how to play it. Vlado thanked him for his answer and that was the end of the sweet exchange.
Now – why is this important? It is important because Georgiev, in breaks from flattering people in positions of power, spreads hatred and misinformation on the networks, threatens journalists and activists. Vlado is an anti-vaxxer, Montenegro-phobe, proponent of conspiracy theories.
Let’s hope that Milatovic is not all that, but the Twitter bromance in the announcement with Georgiev could harm him and raise doubts about his value system. And it wouldn’t be the first alarm. The appointment of a minister from the DF list, an ode to the political activities of Momir Bulatovic, the election of Vuksic and Stijovic as advisors – these are some of the more serious red flags.
The red flag is also the relationship with Vucic. Immediately after taking office, Milatovic rushed “to Vucic’s feet” in his first bilateral visit. This is how they characterized the visit in the Serbian Parliament. In Montenegro, the fact that Milatovic was met at the airport by Dacic faced criticism, but these are more or less protocol matters. What is not a matter of protocol and concerns the dignity of the state is the President’s communication with the leaders of other states.
A few days ago, Milatovic commented on the threats of the Serbian Minister of Defense, saying in general that it is bad for a foreign factor to interfere in the internal affairs of Montenegro. He responded, but failed to mention directly where the threats came from and who issued them. This was again met with criticism by the critics, and in the end, it turned out that it was better if he did not mention anything at all.
Recently, Milatovic played a double pass with Vucic regarding the Igalo institute, in which the signature of Vucic’s PR advisor can be seen. However, while Milatovic praised his relationship with Vucic, Vucic used the situation to humiliate Milatovic, commenting that the quick entry into the EU, which Milatovic believes in, is a child’s fantasy.
Perhaps Vucic reacted violently to the fact that Milatovic no longer promotes the Open Balkans as fervently as at the beginning of his term. Maybe he’s just showing him the place. As long as our President behaves more condescendingly towards Vucic than Abazovic does, we can only guess the reasons for such a thing. If it is true that his brother is developing a business in Serbia thanks to subsidies from the Serbian budget, in a similar way that Abazovic’s brother did it, let him just look at how that story ended in the case of Dritan.
If he sees a political future in close relations with the Serbian authorities and subservience to them, let him just look at how those stories have ended for Montenegrin leaders throughout history.
That’s it for today. See you tomorrow at the same place, at the same time.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(The opinions and views of the authors of the columns are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)
