Some officials of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Social Democrats (SD), who hold power in Bar, have a strictly businesslike and formal relationship after personal and business disagreements over infrastructure projects in that municipality, claim sources from "Vijesti". They say they will remain that way until next year's local elections, saying they are looking forward to a new division of the coalition "pie".
There was allegedly a communication breakdown between the Secretary of Property and Investments. Stefan Šušter (SD) and the President of the Municipality of Bar Dusan Raičević (DPS), which resulted in three postponements of local assembly sessions and the Bar mayor's collegium not being held for over two months.
According to sources from the DPS and SD parties, at the municipal president's collegium held more than two months ago, there was a heated argument between Raičević and a local company manager from the SD party about the issue of reconstruction work around the Cultural Center. Raičević allegedly believed that certain tender procedures and projects could and should be implemented much faster and more efficiently.
After that, SD officials, who "hold" several secretariats in Bar and the position of head of the local parliament, did not come to the collegium the following Thursday, but allegedly shared a photo from a catering facility on social media at the time of the meeting.
Raičević confirmed to "Vijesti" that the SD municipal councilors did not come to the collegium, for reasons unknown to him, as he said. He has not called those meetings since then because, he claims, he has found an alternative way to organize work that works just as well.
The Bar DPS responded to these disagreements by not showing up at the assembly session on March 10th, so there was no quorum for work and decision-making. Head of the DPS councilors' club Asim Andric He told the newspaper at the time that it was necessary to harmonize certain positions and that there was no crisis in power, and other DPS officials from the top of the Bar municipality also adhered to this narrative.
However, two other attempts to hold a session of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Bar were also unsuccessful, since in those cases one councilor, or councilor from the majority, was missing for the quorum. Even then, the local authorities claimed that everything was fine, that it was working smoothly and the municipality was functioning, and that the councilors' private obligations were at stake.
The leaders of the Bar municipality and the municipal council have not officially responded to what they agreed on, while sources for "Vijesti" claim that the agreement was only reached to the extent that they work as much as they have to and to preserve the jobs distributed according to the coalition agreement. They allegedly agreed at the party level, and Raičević "slacked" from that agreement because he allegedly believes that it is not the job of the head of the municipality.
The political and working climate in the municipality is also being affected by personal "issues" between SD and DPS officials in Bar, claims a source for the newspaper from DPS, the party with the largest number of councilors in the local parliament and the man in the leadership chair.
When asked by "Vijesti" what his relationship is with the Mayor of Bar, Stefan Šušter replied: "Professional and correct."
Asked to comment on the allegations of his party colleagues that their cooperation is not the best, and that he is at the epicenter of the "sparks" in the Bar municipality, he replied that he was not familiar with that.
"The best thing would be to ask your sources and DPS councilors why they didn't come to that session. I didn't know I was at the epicenter, but I would like to have proper cooperation with all of them. No one told me that there was a problem with me. Based on some official communication that we have, everything is fine," claims Šušter.
However, when asked if he had been to Raičević's collegium in the last few months, he replied that he had not, because those meetings had not been held in the past two months.
Problems with the 2022 agreement?
As "Vijesti" unofficially learned from sources in the DPS, the current situation in the government in Bar is just the culmination of coalition agreements and agreements from the 2022 local elections, when the SD demanded a large share of the "pie" in the Bar administration in exchange for their three councilors supporting Raičević as the first man in the municipality.
This cost DPS many seats, the party's Bar branch said, adding that they could not allow another political entity to fill the most important position in the city. One of the SD's conditions was allegedly that the party Radomir Novaković Cakan, I vote Bar, is not part of the parliamentary majority.
These agreements, as the newspaper was told, have come to fruition, and now they are trying to create a rift between DPS councilors, which the SD, they claim, will not succeed in. They assure that there is harmony in the party, claiming that they are united and that all decisions are made jointly.
However, despite all of the above, both parties have indicated that they are looking forward to local elections in 2026, which they say will result in a different distribution of the "pie", but they say that their cooperation will continue.
The three councilors, with whom SD participates in the ruling majority, DPS will not seek from the opposition ranks for now, they said, although, according to sources at "Vijesti", there were such proposals within the party.
The Bar opposition claimed that the ruling coalition was incapable of ensuring the smooth functioning of the government. The Europe Now Movement assessed that Bar "has become a hostage to the political irresponsibility of the ruling majority."
"It's time to finally know in this city whether to ask DPS or SD, because we see that together they don't ask anything," he told "Vijesti" last month. Radomir Novaković.
The Democrats stated that it is irresponsible and inappropriate for the authorities in Bar to treat "in this way" some of the citizens who have given them their trust, as well as the entire community, "because they cannot provide the conditions for decision-making on important issues."
The Bar Parliament last sat on December 17th of last year, and at that, as well as at previous sessions, opposition councilors repeatedly emphasized that citizens deserve to know whether the SD or DPS is in power in the Bar municipality.
Nenezić would not discuss "speculations"
After three unsuccessful attempts to convene, the continuation of the session of the Bar Municipal Assembly is scheduled for Monday, May 5. "Vijesti" received confirmation from the leadership of the local parliament, headed by Branislav Nenezić (SD), who previously told the newspaper that the session would certainly continue until the end of April.
In addition to the session on March 10th, which was postponed because DPS councilors did not attend, the one scheduled for April 9th was also postponed because one councilor from that party was missing the quorum, and the quorum was also absent on April 15th when a councilor from Nenezić's party was receiving hospital treatment.
"While the reasons for postponing the parliamentary sessions are already known, and they are justified, the Speaker of the Parliament will not comment on speculation regarding them. We believe that you will receive answers to the remaining questions during the parliamentary sessions," the Bar parliamentary service responded to "Vijesti" when asked about the circumstances in the Bar Municipal Assembly and the relations between the DPS and the SD.
Of the 37 seats in the Bar parliament, the majority of 19 councilors are held by the DPS, SD, Social Democratic Party and Liberal Party.
The opposition accused Nenezić of using the local parliament to play political games, and they did so especially at the last session, claiming that they would have provided a quorum for work and decision-making since one of the majority councilors was absent for "the most justifiable reasons", but that he had not informed them about it, but that they had been informed from the media.
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