As a journalist, Đorđe Vlajić has been observing the political scene in Serbia for decades, and thus, whether he likes it or not, he remembers well all the misdeeds of Vojislav Šešelj.
He remembers how Šešelj, together with his godfather Vuk Drašković, emerged from the faction of the Serbian People's Renewal in Novopaz.
While Godfather Vuk soon became the "king of the squares", Seselj, accompanied by several bearded, untidy people who were called Chetniks, had to literally fight for the chance to say something. Even then, in the early nineties, violence was part of his political concept. And so it remained.
According to Đorđe Vlajić, Vojislav Šešelj has not been at his political zenith for a long time. But his production of scandals was quite well calculated: "Vojislav Šešelj's political marketing has always been based on scandals, harsh statements, severe nationalism, conflicts. He even appeared in some situations as a very diabolical personality. Everything he did, he did with the intention of he presented himself as a man who uncompromisingly defends Serbia - at all costs and without any consideration or feelings for others. This is how he behaved towards political opponents, not only towards people of other nationalities".
A strong president weak on Seselj?
Since the official visit of the Croatian parliamentary delegation was significant for Serbia, and everyone in the country, including Seselj's former political follower and the current president of the country, Aleksandar Vučić, knows who the Radical leader is, the question arises whether the government could have prevented him from intending to turned the visit of political guests from Zagreb into a chauvinistic performance.
Vučić himself condemned the incident on the First Program of Radio Television of Serbia on Wednesday (April 18.4), and then answered an unspoken question: "You know that we will never allow someone from the outside to threaten any of our guests. But how do you react when in question, people's deputies?" Then Vučić emphasized that as a representative of Serbia, he did not leave Zagreb when Serbian flags were burned there. He did not omit to mention Alojzije Stepinac. In a casual manner, without a tie, he stated at length and at length what had been done to improve the position of Croats in Serbia, to finally say: "And then this happens to you, which damages your reputation and image. And what should you do? What should you do ?"
Observers see a clear calculation in the supposed impotence of the most powerful man in the state.
Zoran Gavrilović from the Bureau of Social Research (Birodi) says that Šešelj is not an opposition opponent, but rather a cooperative partner of the current ruling group: "Vojislav Šešelj's outburst is part of the repertoire with which he tries to draw attention to himself, in principle I have lost all battles, but still I'm waging a war. Left at the mercy of his student Aleksandar Vučić, he turned into his guy for dirty media affairs. You don't need to be a great media expert to see that Šešelj is a regular guest of government bulletins, where he only appears with the consent of the authorities."
Đorđe Vlajić admittedly says that there is no evidence that Vučić directly or indirectly protects Šešelj - but there are patterns of behavior that are quite telling: "Since the Serbian Radical Party split, I have not witnessed any fierce confrontation between Vučić and Šešelj, neither political nor personal. I think that there is some kind of agreement or tacit pact not to attack each other, because it could be unfavorable for both of them".
Šešelj in his element
Šešelj was in a good mood during his conversation with journalists on Thursday (April 19.4). Since nobody seems to have seen how Seselj stepped on the flag, and the footage from the security cameras has not yet appeared, the only trace of his act is the announcement of his party. Journalists asked if everything was made up, and Šešelj answered in his own style: "It would be extraordinary if we made it up and the fools settled, but we didn't. Why did they return to Zagreb? Only because of our announcement?"
Šešelj was convinced that his announced "radical rally" in Hrtkovci on May 6, on the 26th anniversary of the meeting after which Croats started to leave the place, would not be banned, announcing a peaceful rally, "as peaceful as the rally was and 1992." In addition, Vojislav Šešelj says that he does not believe that his mandate in the Serbian Parliament will be taken away from him.
Đorđe Vlajić underlines that this shows the lack of political will to deal with Šešelj: "What worries me in particular is that Šešelj has been legally convicted in the Hague Tribunal and remains a member of parliament. By doing so, the government is violating its own and international laws."
Severe consequences of a radical announcement
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić tried to pull the chestnuts out of the fire on Thursday (April 19.4) and called her Croatian colleague, Andrej Plenković, but, according to her, he simply did not answer. A new round of misunderstandings between Belgrade and Zagreb was clearly again successfully fueled by Seselj's provocations.
By all accounts, Vojislav Šešelj has a larger target audience in Croatia, because the public there reacts to him as a serious threat, despite his marginal political strength. In Serbia, people are divided into those who shrug their shoulders and those who wave their hands. There is also some mischievous smile. But the problem with Seselj's misdeeds is deeper than people preoccupied with everyday worries are ready to see.
Zoran Gavrilović believes that the motivation of the doctor of social sciences with the title of Chetnik duke is obvious: "The mild reaction of the authorities in Serbia does not mean that it is afraid of Šešelj, but that it does not want to cross paths with the war legacy of which it was a part. But it is only worse than that the fact that the state prosecutor did not find it appropriate to react, because good lawyers say that Seselj broke the law. And here we are in Chapter 23, here we are in EU-integrations. This is how we arrive at Seselj's key motive, which is to leave Serbia out of European integration , with the hope that it will become a Russian governorate".
Bonus video:
