BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia’s parliament on Wednesday approved politically inexperienced medical professor Djuro Macut as Prime Minister of the Balkan country, following months of anti-corruption protests that led his predecessor to resign.
The vote was a formality since the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of populist President Aleksandar Vucic has a majority of 156 deputies in the 250-seat parliament. Opposition parties had demanded a transitional government prior to elections due in 2027, which Vucic and his allies rejected.
The new government will have 31 ministers, 22 of whom served under former Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, who resigned amid protests that began in November following a roof collapse at a train station in Novi Sad which killed 16 people.
Daily rallies led by students spread across Serbia and became the biggest challenge in Vucic’s 12 year-long rule, with protesters denouncing widespread corruption and incompetence that led to the disaster.
Vucic and his allies deny that.
Macut said his government wants an end to the protests and called for a dialogue with the protesters.
“Serbia is tired of blockades,” Macut said in his address to deputies.
In the past two days, protesters blocked entrances to the RTS state broadcaster and scuffled with police.
“The nomination of a new prime minister linked to President Aleksandar Vucic’s new political movement is unlikely to ease public tensions,” the Teneo consultancy said in an analysis this week.
On Sunday, Vucic promoted his Movement for People and State which would be led by the SNS and is expected to amalgamate other parties from the ruling coalition.
Macut’s cabinet is seen as a government of continuity in which Vucic will continue to wield considerable influence, regardless of his largely ceremonial position.
“It is completely irrelevant who the ministers are … nobody will ask you anything,” Miroslav Aleksic of the opposition People’s Movement party told future ministers during the debate.
Macut said his government wants to keep the budget deficit within 3% of gross domestic product (GDP) through 2027 and to maintain existing fiscal rules until 2029.
He also said Belgrade would continue balancing between its EU membership bid and ties with China, a major investor, Russia, a traditional ally, and the United States.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Ed Osmond)
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