The Serbian Parliament on Wednesday approved politically inexperienced professor of medicine Djura Macut as Prime Minister. The new government is taking power at the time of the ongoing anti -corruption protests that led to the resignation of Milos Vuchevič from the post of Prime Minister. Reuters informed about it, writes TASR.
According to Reuters, this vote was only a formality, as the Serbian progressive party (CIS) President Aleksandar Vučič has a majority of 156 deputies in the 250-member parliament. The opposition parties demanded that the transitional government arose, which Vučič and its political allies refused.
The new government will have 31 ministers. Up to 22 of them also worked in the government of Vučevič, who resigned under the pressure of the protests induced in November 2024 after the collapse of the concrete shelter at the railway station in Novi Sad. This tragedy claimed 16 victims.
Macut said in his speech to Members that his government wanted to end these protests and called for a dialogue with demonstrators. “Serbia is tired of blockages,” Macut also said in connection with the fact that the demonstrators have blocked the entrances to the RTS State Telefaculum building in the last two days and got into the meeting with the police.
The new Prime Minister stated before the deputies that his government wants to maintain a budget deficit of three percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2027 and the existing fiscal rules to maintain by 2029. United States.
According to Danas news website, the discussion of members of the government and its program was stormy. While the opposition was, according to its deputies, mainly the expertise of candidates for ministers, the deputies of the government coalition spoke mainly about the challenges faced by the new government and claimed that they had to promote the policy of continuity.
MP Aleksandar Jovanovič from the opposition movement Ecological Uprising of the new ministers said that it looks like “second -hand government”, which hinted at the fact that the new government cabinet also includes more than 20 members of the previous government.
As far as the individual ministers are concerned, the opposition criticized the nomination for the post of Minister of Education, who at the time of continued student demonstrations and teachers’ strikes became Dejan Vuk Stankovič, a political analyst close to the ruling Serbian progressive party (CIS) President Aleksandar Vučič.
The Ministry of Information will lead Boris Brother, known for his disagreement with Serbia’s accession to the European Union – in 2009 even burned the EU flag at a public event.
Macut – by profession of a doctor -endocrinologist – takes on the government in a difficult period, and has no other political experience than the participation in the formation of a new pro -government political movement initiated by President Vučič. This entity, with the working name of the People and the State Movement, was constituted last weekend at the Assembly in Belgrade, where, according to independent sources, about 55,000 people gathered, while Vučič spoke of 145,000.
Political scientist Bojan Klačar thinks that the participation, energy and message of this assembly were not as strong as Vučič hoped, but his political allies managed to stabilize his position to some extent.
However, the consulting company TENEO said in its analysis this week that the nomination of the new Prime Minister connected with the new political movement of President Vučič is unlikely to be relieved of tensions in Serbia.
