In almost every one of his daily addresses to viewers of the regime's televisions, Aleksandar Vučić boasts of his own courage. It is as if he is a hybrid reincarnation of Emperor Dušan, Marko Kraljević and Tito.
As during all that time he spread around himself a security belt woven of sycophants, admirers and mercenaries, so he grew in his own eyes and sharpened the vocabulary with which he addressed anyone who asked a question he did not like.
He forced himself in front of the home crowd, on home ground. In contact with world statesmen, however, he was smaller than a poppy seed, humbled to an extent that caused discomfort. Admittedly, he called out Western democracies here and there for working on his head, most often Germany, spreading conspiracy theories, and insulting certain politicians, but he was looked down upon as a problem child that no one takes particularly seriously.
Brussels's parcels
And then, as happens when borders are not set in time, in some interesting state of consciousness on the night of September 5, while the police were beating everything in front of them in Novi Sad, it occurred to him to call the members of the European Parliament who attended the protest "European scum" who dared to come to Serbia to destroy him, hey, him. He thought, I guess, that they were too unimportant, so that he would amaze his audience with his fearless uncouthness, without any consequences.
He played too much. This was followed by attacks from Brussels and Strasbourg, and suddenly the beating of students and citizens, progressive beating formations, verbal abuse and defamation of the president of Serbia, repression of universities, systematic attacks on critical journalists, party control of the majority of the media, attacks on judges and prosecutors, collusion with Putin and Xi Jinping flew to the forefront of European institutions.
While the little fingers are red from the pain, the tone of the President of Serbia suddenly dropped. A hint from the conservative European People's Party (EPP), of which the Serbian Progressive Party is an associate member, was enough to consider further cooperation with the SNS, so that autobrnjization would occur.
People's parties turn a blind eye
The EPP, led by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has so far turned its head to the trampling of democracy in Serbia, the destruction of basic human rights, the Belarusianization of Serbia, and has stood behind Angela Merkel's former deputy Aleksandar Vučić. The essence of conservative Christian Democratic parties is that they do not like changes, that they prefer a rickety stabilocracy, rather than some pure revolutionary kids who burn on the streets in the fight for the rule of law.
But the Bravest Serb has been lulled in the paid media for the last month and a few days to the extreme, forcing the love of citizens with batons, tear gas, shock bombs, mass arrests and police raids on universities.
All this is doubly sad. On the one hand, the President of Serbia's fear of losing power is so great that he is ready to defend this crooked, corrupt organization with all his state and parastatal forces. On the other hand, the ease with which the European Commission could curb it, only it does not.
A new breeze at the back of Aleksandar Vučić is that, after all, Ursula von der Leyen did not even mention Serbia in her speech on the state of the EU on Wednesday. There is no doubt that the President of Serbia will listen closely to what is being said in Brussels. Depending on that, the caning will continue with reduced or increased intensity.
