Yesterday, at a meeting of some of the constituents of the government in Pljevlja, the Europe Now Movement (PES) demanded the dismissal of the first man of that municipality, Darija Vraneš - "Vijesti" has learned.
According to unofficial information from the editorial office, at a meeting attended by representatives of Vraneš's New Serbian Democracy (NSD) and the Democrats, PES was categorical in its demand for the removal of the first person in the municipality, also demanding a change of personnel who, in their opinion, "blocks the development of the local community."
The Democrats, on the other hand, demanded that the municipal budget be development-oriented, that appointments to positions that are currently unavailable to them be made, that the issue of the director of the local Library, Bojana Đačić, whose dismissal is being sought by some employees, be resolved, and that an agreement be reached on investments.
This party, the newspaper learned, is not against the PES's request.
"We have nothing against the NSD replacing its own staff in the position of municipal president, but we are asking for the functioning of local government to be improved and regulated," the editorial board was told.
According to "Vijesti", the NSD told PES and the Democrats that changes to the personnel structure would be considered and that the priority would be improving and regulating the functioning of local self-government, but without an explicit guarantee of Vraneš's dismissal, which is also desired by some NSD councilors.
The structure of the councilors in Pljevlja also complicates plans to dismiss Vraneš. In order for the government to remove him without the support of the opposition, it would need the support of at least 18 of its councilors out of a total of 23. However, this is uncertain given the internal disagreements within the government. The Movement for Pljevlja has two representatives, the same as the Democratic People's Party, while PES won four seats in the previous elections, but Milomir Drobnjak left the party and is now acting as an independent councilor.
It is therefore uncertain how the councilors of the ruling majority, which wants to avoid at all costs the removal of Vraneš with the help of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the Bosniak Party, which have seven and one councilor, respectively, will vote. Former DPS councilor Saša Ječmenica has moved to Duško Marković's Party of European Progress, and is now running as an independent councilor.
According to unofficial information from the newspaper, the NSD leadership will talk to other members of the ruling coalition in Pljevlja in the coming days to discuss the possibility of further political moves.
Meanwhile, the political situation in the local parliament further complicates the whole story, as a few days ago, the session at which the budget was to be adopted was postponed for the second time due to the lack of a quorum. Out of 34 councilors, only ten showed up in the hall, five of whom were from the ruling coalition. The parliamentary majority currently has 23 councilors, down from 24 before, but the Civic Movement URA, which has one representative, left the coalition due to disagreements with the way the city is run.
The Democratic and PES councilor clubs announced before the session that they would not attend, stating that the meeting they initiated on December 24th, which was supposed to serve to resolve contentious issues within the majority, was not held.
As they stated, their decision does not represent an abdication of political responsibility, but rather an appeal for the urgent establishment of dialogue and the restoration of mutual trust between partners.
"This move is a consequence, not a cause, of the political crisis," they said, adding that instead of dialogue, they are faced with ignoring, unilateral decisions, and a lack of will to resolve problems within the coalition.
The statement emphasizes that since the moment the initiative for the meeting was submitted, certain problems have further deepened, while new ones have also emerged.
Because of all this, they demanded that the NSD leadership promptly convene emergency coalition consultations.
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