New DSS Offers Student List Majority and Technical Cabinet

Milos Stankovic, a member of the Presidency of the New Democratic Party of Serbia (New DSS) and a candidate on the Authentic Right list, has offered the Student List cooperation after the elections. Authentic Right, he says, wants to be both part of the parliamentary majority and part of a future technical government.

He made the statement to today’s edition of the daily Danas. He called a change of the current government “mathematically and politically impossible” without that coalition, and framed his offer as an invitation to the Student List to agree on such a change with Authentic Right.

What Does New DSS Offer the Student List?

Stankovic put the offer in a single sentence that covers both the majority and the government:

“We stand ready to work with the Student List on this change, and we want to take part in the change of government both as part of the parliamentary majority and as part of a future, technical Government.”

The two forms of participation are not the same thing. A place in the parliamentary majority means votes in the National Assembly, while a place in a technical government also means ministerial posts. Stankovic said he wants both, and the texts that carried his statement give no details on what Authentic Right would specifically ask for.

Stankovic said he expects the same readiness on the side of the Student List. He called it the dominant opposition actor and said it is precisely the “address for the question” of whether a change involving Authentic Right will happen. In doing so he put the ball in the Student List’s court: by his account, the offer’s fate depends on it.

What Did Stankovic Say About Vucic?

Commenting on recent addresses by Aleksandar Vucic, who heads the United Serbia list, Stankovic said his words should not be given great weight. He explained why this way:

“It is truly both incomprehensible and unnecessary, even insulting, to comment on the statements of a man who is believed on nothing or almost nothing.”

He added that those statements are used as “ammunition in the fight against the national-democratic opposition” gathered around New DSS and Authentic Right. With that, Stankovic tied his assessment of Vucic’s addresses to the position of his own coalition.

What Remains Unanswered?

The Student List’s response to the offer has not been published. The texts that carried Stankovic’s statement include no reaction from that list, so it is not known whether it shares the view that a change of government is impossible without Authentic Right.

A day earlier we published a piece titled “Ponos on a Student List minority government: the condition is the EU path,” which deals with the conditions under which support for such a government would be possible. Stankovic’s offer goes a different way: it does not seek support from outside, but a place inside the majority and inside the government.