Serbia’s new Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic promised a total overhaul of the economy in the Balkan country. Vucic told the lawmakers on 27 April that “you will sleep and eat here” in order to pass by July 15 the first set of reform laws that are necessary to introduce market reform.
“This is something that has been put off for too long,” Vucic said. “Changes and modernisation are the key words.”
The new Serbian government was elected on 27 April in the Serbian parliament with a majority of 198 out of 250 MPs. The ruling coalition is comprised of the coalition around the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), coalition around the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), and the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians (SVM).
Liberal opposition leader Dragan Djilas criticised the prime minister, saying he had offered no new solutions. Djilas said that “one man will be making all the decisions, which is not good for Serbia”.
Vucic, who is a former hard-line nationalist turned pro-EU reformer, has gained popularity by promising an uncompromising struggle against rampant corruption amid widespread poverty.
Vucic said the economic changes will include cuts in the public sector, budget revision and privatisation of state-run companies, coupled with boosting the private sector. He predicted possible protests, but pledged to stick to reform.
The EU opened accession talks with Serbia this year, after Belgrade agreed to normalise ties with Kosovo.
Vucic promised to thousands of citizens gathered in front of the parliament on 27 April that the new government will create perspective for them, after hard economic turns.
After the election of the new Serbian government at the parliament, Vucic and the ministers went outside the building to present themselves to thousands of citizens that gathered at the Nikola Pasic’s Square in Belgrade.
“I know that you are here because of our future and our children, so that they would have perspective, so that they could find employment, so that they would get education, to start their own business, and to earn money for them,” Vucic told citizens and numerous media crews.
He assured them that Serbia will always know how to guard its interests, people in Kosovo and Metohija, “as well as to take care of the future of our children”.
“Serbia is much stronger after the elections, than it was before, because you gave it strength with your enormous support, so today Serbia can be among small number of countries in Europe and the world that have its own opinion around important international issues,” Vucic said.
He said that he opposed to opinion of economists and experts that pensions should be decreased because, as he said, “pensioners today have to support their children and grandchildren”.
“Today when Serbia lives in poverty, we will have to use hard and serious measures to improve the state,” Vucic told citizens and added that it will be easier to talk about decreasing pensions, when the new government creates a better economic situation.
Ending his speech, Vucic promised to fight against crime and corruption and that Serbia “will not be run by tycoons but by people, through its representatives in the parliament”.