Tepic accuses Vucic of poorly representing Serbia in Tivat
While President Vucic attends the summit in Tivat, the SSP sharpens its attack from a rally in Ruma and ties him to travelers turned back from Montenegro.
- Marinika Tepic, deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), said Vucic once again tried to present Serbia in the worst possible way ahead of the EU summit in Tivat.
- At an SSP rally in Ruma, Tepic called the president the leader of an organized criminal group, a sharp political charge from the opposition.
- As context, on June 3 Montenegrin police turned back 87 Serbian citizens at Tivat airport, suspecting they had come to informally provide security for Vucic.
- The European Commission also responded to that incident.
Marinika Tepic, deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP), said President Aleksandar Vucic had once again tried to present Serbia in the worst possible way ahead of the European Union summit in Tivat. She made the statement while the president was in Montenegro, as the opposition stepped up its attack from a rally in Ruma.
Tepic delivered her assessment at an SSP gathering, where she linked the events around the summit to a recent incident at the Montenegrin border. This is a political position taken by the opposition, not an official finding by any authority.
What Tepic said from the rally
Speaking before supporters in Ruma, Tepic described the president in the harshest terms the opposition has used recently. Her characterization is the political judgment of one side and does not represent an established fact.
Vucic is the leader of an organized criminal group.
That statement, made at a party rally, should be read as part of pre-election and opposition rhetoric. The ruling side routinely rejects such assessments as political attacks, while the opposition presents them as a description of the state of the institutions.
In her address, Tepic insisted that, in her view, the conduct of the state leadership at international gatherings damages Serbia’s reputation. The main points of her speech were:
- Her view that the president presented Serbia in Tivat in the worst light.
- Linking the president to the group of travelers turned back by Montenegrin police.
- An announcement that the SSP would keep asking who was sent to Montenegro, and why.
Why has the Tivat incident become an issue?
The political tension found a new trigger after the events at the airport. On June 3, Montenegrin police in Tivat turned back 87 Serbian citizens, citing suspicion that they had come to informally provide security for Vucic during his stay. The European Commission also responded to the move.
The opposition immediately used the incident to amplify its story about how Serbia presents itself in the region. The ruling side, for its part, frames the Tivat summit as a chance to strengthen cooperation, while the president describes his participation as a contribution to stability.
The difference in interpretation remains clear. Tepic judges the appearance to have been harmful, while official Belgrade presents the summit’s messages as confirmation of Serbia’s role in the region. Which of these two readings prevails will be shown by the coming reactions in both Belgrade and Brussels, and by how the case of the returned travelers unfolds.
Will the Tivat incident remain an episode from the election campaign, or open a broader question about relations between Serbia and Montenegro?
