Aleksandar Šapić is not the favorite vice-president of the party among the progressives. Broadly speaking, he is probably not one of the most loved members within the dense party network, but that does not prevent him from leading the capital for four years, precisely under the progressive majority together with the socialists and radicals. However, the recent media conference showed again that the cracks within the progressives are not repaired but maintained, and that they are slowly growing into a ditch into which the future of the majority held by the SNS in Belgrade can also fit.
For the first time since he entered into an open conflict four years ago with Goran Vesić, the then deputy mayor of Belgrade, Aleksandar Šapić said on Friday that someone within the SNS was working against him. This time, the public was deprived of the specific name of the person who, according to the first man of the city, "is trying to bring it down with rat channels". Although he claims that he does not know who is "piercing" him, Šapić announced that he will find out and announce it to the public. However, the cooling of relations between Šapić and Naprednjaci is not a summer story, but a long-standing epic that is getting a new saga.
According to Stefan Simić, councilor in the Belgrade City Assembly, Šapić's media conference seemed like a farewell. "I call on him to say who he is at war with and I hope he will do it even more strongly. Every week he should make statements and explain who is attacking him. On the other hand, I don't know what he expected - to be showered with rose petals and a red carpet?", underlined Simić for "Vreme".
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION A POINT OF DISSENT
Judging by Šapić's statement, the reason for the attack by the "rat canals" is the state of public transport. As he explained from the lectern in the Old Palace (because he hasn't attended City Assembly sessions for two years), "particular interests" are behind everything.
"Two or three years ago, I clearly defined who those rats were by name and surname, and I said: whoever hits me under the table, I will hit him over, because I don't hit under the table. And I will do it again when I know exactly which name", Šapic remained somewhat enigmatic.
What Šapić was not ambiguous about is the topic in connection with which some party comrades are trying to deny him support. For years, public transport has been at the top of the capital's problems - from financial debts, over dilapidated vehicles and a lack of employees, to the management that continues to borrow. A delegation of a small part of GSP employees conveyed part of these accumulated misfortunes to the president of the state at a meeting in Andrićevo venc, so the head of state himself was surprised at how alarming the situation was. The result of that meeting is that the trolleybuses that operate in the center remained under the jurisdiction of the failing city company, that is, that private individuals lost that part of their business. One of the curiosities of this meeting was that the meeting was not attended by Šapić, but by his little-known advisor Goran Medaković. It is also indicative that it has rarely happened that the president organizes a meeting where there are no leading people from the department that is the topic of discussion. If the topic was Belgrade, Šapić certainly had a reserved place.
DRAMA IN MULTIPLE ACTES
It is no secret that Aleksandar Šapić does not maintain excessively close contacts with the progressives in Belgrade, but not at the level of the whole country either. Although he said years ago that he would not be part of their party, he broke his word in 2022 when he merged his SPAS party into the SNS, and then became the vice-president of this party and the mayor of Belgrade. Tensions soon surfaced, as well as verbal conflicts with Goran Vesić, the former SNS official for Belgrade. With his transition to the ministerial chair, the conflict became invisible to the public, but according to "Vremen" information, their relations are still strained.
In the meantime, Šapić became the first violinist in the Old Palace and on Nikola Pašić Square, but he did not manage to achieve an enviable level of coordination with his party comrades, nor to deepen communication with them. According to the information of "Vremen", Šapić rarely holds meetings with colleagues from SNS, and cooperates more often and more successfully with the President of the Assembly, Nikola Nikodijević, who comes from the ranks of the Socialists. It is a fact that the support of the progressives was never absent at the sessions, but Šapić definitely cannot boast of having close relations with the largest councilor group.
Part of those colder relations, according to the opinion of part of the public, should also be found in the fact that Šapić quickly advanced to a high position in the hierarchy of the government. Dejan Bursać from the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory reminded "Vreme" that Šapić is, after all, a newer member of SNS and that many people do not like his rapid rise. "Don't forget that in 2020 he ran with SPAS as his own party and only then joined the SNS. I believe that there are many people who frown on his rapid rise through that structure. I also believe that, as a relatively skilled politician, he managed to smell a coup in power," Bursać told "Vreme".
ALL ŠAPIĆ'S SECRETARIES
In addition to councilors and high-ranking officials, Šapić does not have particularly close cooperation with most city secretaries. The mayor's most trusted people can be counted on the fingers of one hand, while the rest are more sympathetic to the other current within the SNS. One of those who is "loyalist" to Šapić is the Secretary for Education and Child Protection Aleksandra Čamagić. Once again in the public spotlight because part of the opposition considers her responsible for the fact that she still does not have the promised student aid, Aleksandra Čamagić is far more famous because of BIRN's discovery that she was part of an organization that participated in the allocation of budget money for the implementation of projects that never happened. Millions of euros were spent on the work of phantom organizations, which is now a recognized way of "extracting" citizens' money. According to the data of this research portal, at least five million euros were drawn in this way, just through the competition of the Ministry of Family Care and Demography in 2021.
Bojan Bovan, formerly Šapić's staff from Novi Belgrade, today acting secretary for traffic of the City of Belgrade, is on good terms with Šapić. It is this department that is very important to Šapić, and he has been appointing staff close to him since 2022. The reform of public transportation, the affair of his chief of staff, Nenad Milanović, with the company "Kentkart", the purchase of new vehicles and the attempt to restore GSP are only part of this important area. Precisely because of her, Šapić is carefully watching who will sit in that secretariat, and there are certainly people of the closest trust there. There are other secretaries, such as Luka Petrović, who is in charge of investments, who is more loyal to party tasks and has somewhat colder relations with the former water polo player.
As a curiosity, but also an illustrative example of how the progressive inner party life works, it is important to keep in mind that, although he is the head of Belgrade, Šapić is not formally the most powerful member of the party in the capital. "Šapić doesn't know this city, and when we talk about some signals, don't forget the fact that the mayor is not the main progressive for Belgrade. The commissioner is Ana Brnabić," Stefan Simić reminded for "Vreme" and added: "His own party gave up on him and he should have been a thing of the past a long time ago."
DON'T FORGET THE LITTLE ONE
An additional factor in the equation with more unknowns is the position of Finance Minister Sinisa Malog. Although for years he has been the man in charge of the republic's treasury and the balance sheets that are analyzed in the republican parliament, the fact that Mali is still a councilor in the city assembly is not unimportant. In addition to the fact that he receives 40.000 dinars per month for this engagement, although he never appears at the sessions, as a minister, Mali is in a conflict of interest because he cannot be in two branches of government. Followers of the situation believe that the reason for this is the control of the city coffers, but also the possible entrance from the "bench" if Šapić loses the trust of the top of the party. According to the information of "Vremen", although he has not publicly spoken out against Šapić so far, Mali does not approve of the numerous bad economic results of the City's management.
WHICH GAME DOES ŠAPIĆ CHOOSE?
Although there are more questions than answers, Šapić is undeniably sending a message, bearing in mind that this is only the second time he has verbally dealt with his party colleagues. Although neither formal leader Miloš Vučević nor the most powerful member Aleksandar Vučić have spoken, it is obvious that there is a crisis and that the former water polo player is trying to get out of it successfully. According to Dejan Bursać, two scenarios are possible.
"One option is that he is making a small departure with this, because we should not forget that he introduced some kind of political persona and structure to the SNS. This means that in the near future he could act as an autonomous player. Another possibility is that he could assert himself even more in this structure where we see frequent overturns. He is aware that this is a very crisis situation for the progressives", assessed Bursać and emphasized that he does not rule out the possibility of Šapić seeking a new position in the government because the SNS will have a hard time winning the elections in the capital.
Even though Šapić's game is not entirely clear, his mandate is currently guaranteed and there are no announcements that he will be denied support. Although it is formal, it is notable that meetings with the president of the party and the state are rare, although at the last media conference Šapić mentioned the name of the Serbian Progressive Party several times, which was not the case before. It is certain that not all progressives are enthusiastic about his role, but we will see if there are "rat channels" and who is their architect. If they have already been created, there is little chance that the top of a loyalist-hierarchical party like SNS does not know about them. And Šapić certainly knows that.
