{"id":5134,"date":"2025-02-10T08:53:18","date_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:53:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/serbias-protests-test-the-presidents-grip-on-power\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T08:53:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T08:53:18","slug":"serbias-protests-test-the-presidents-grip-on-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/serbias-protests-test-the-presidents-grip-on-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia\u2019s Protests Test the President\u2019s Grip on Power"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Serbia\u2019s authoritarian leader should be riding high, lifted by economic growth that is four times the European average, falling unemployment and steadily rising wages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, President Aleksandar Vucic, battered by three months of nationwide street protests, is struggling to weather his biggest political crisis in more than a decade of strong-arm rule.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Leading the charge against him have been students in wealthy cities like Belgrade, the capital. To try to get them off the streets, the government said in December that it would offer young people state-subsidized loans of up to about $100,000 to buy apartments.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Student representatives had a blunt response: Keep your money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Also joining the protests have been older, less privileged Serbs, people on whom Mr. Vucic previously counted for support by providing their villages with new roads, sports halls and other facilities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When students in Belgrade marched for 60 miles last week through villages and small towns on their way to Novi Sad, a thriving northern city on the Danube River, Dusko Grujic, 68, a farmer, cheered them on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Serbia\u2019s economy, Mr. Grujic said, standing next to his aged tractor piled with bales of hay, is not as robust as official statistics suggest, and food prices are too high. But he added that his main gripes were about corruption, highhanded officials and Mr. Vucic\u2019s tendency to cast all criticism as the <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/28\/world\/europe\/serbia-vucic-prime-minister-resigns.html\" title=\"\">work of foreign agents<\/a> and traitorous political rivals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The protests began in November after 15 people were killed by the collapse of a concrete canopy at a newly renovated railway station in Novi Sad, a tragedy that students and opposition politicians blamed on shoddy work by contractors tied to corrupt officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Supporters of Mr. Vucic responded to demands for the prosecution of those responsible with a crude insult: They put up banners and posters that featured a red hand giving the middle finger on bridges and buildings in several cities.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Milan Culibrk, a prominent economics commentator who writes for Radar, an opposition-aligned weekly, said it was a bad move in a country where people tend to act politically \u201con their emotions, not their wallet\u201d and only inflamed the situation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He recalled that Slobodan Milosevic \u2014 Serbia\u2019s dictator during the Balkan wars of the 1990s \u2014 handily won an election in 1993 despite hyperinflation that had prices more than doubling every two days by tapping a rich vein of nationalism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A big paradox today, Mr. Culibrk said, is that many of those who have benefited most from Serbia\u2019s strong economy have joined the protests, while those who have not, mainly rural residents and state employees, have tended to stay home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The economy matters, Mr. Culibrk said, but so long as people are not starving, \u201cother things matter much more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One thing that matters deeply to Mr. Grujic, the farmer, is not having to see so much of Mr. Vucic on television. The president appears at the top of nearly every news bulletin, hailing Serbia\u2019s economic gains on state television and on fawningly loyal private channels like Pink and Happy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf even my son appeared this much on TV, I\u2019d tell him: \u2018Please stop,\u2019\u201d Mr. Grujic complained. \u201cVucic, Vucic, Vucic \u2014 all day, every day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Opposition politicians, struggling to compete on the economy, point to inflation, which is falling but still high at over 4 percent. They also dispute the accuracy of statistics that show Serbia\u2019s economy grew nearly 4 percent last year and is on track to expand even more this year, compared with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eurostat\/web\/products-euro-indicators\/w\/2-30012025-ap#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20first%20estimation,by%200.8%25%20in%20the%20EU\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">less than 1 percent<\/a> in the European Union. Serbia applied to join the bloc in 2009 but remains far from being accepted as a member.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Marko Cadez, the president of Serbia\u2019s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, dismissed opposition quibbling over economic figures as a sign of desperation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLook at where the economy is today compared with where it was 10 years ago,\u201d Mr. Cadez said. \u201cThey are completely different worlds, night and day.\u201d He pointed to a surging high-tech sector and to more than $5 billion in direct foreign investment last year, more than double the figure when Mr. Vucic came to power.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Unlike in the formerly Soviet republic of Georgia, where weeks of <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/12\/02\/world\/europe\/protests-georgia-tbilisi.html\" title=\"\">antigovernment protests<\/a> by demonstrators waving European Union flags have been driven in a large part by hostility to Russia, Serbia\u2019s unrest has little to do with the country\u2019s uncertain geopolitical orientation between East and West.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Maritsa Jovanovic, a former civil engineer who cheered students blocking three key bridges in Novi Sad last weekend, said she had left her job as an engineer in a state agency because of pressure to sign off on documents for projects that violated the law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe all just want institutions to work as they are supposed to,\u201d she said. Echoing the feelings of many protesters, Ms. Jovanovic said she thought that the United States and Europe had mostly turned a blind eye to Serbia\u2019s ills under Mr. Vucic in pursuit of their own geopolitical and economic interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the canopy at Novi Sad railway station collapsed in November, Mr. Vucic <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nezavisne.com\/novosti\/ex-yu\/Vucic-Sve-smo-renovirali-samo-nadstresnicu-nismo-Zasto\/866704#google_vignette\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">initially insisted<\/a> that the structure had not been part of the renovation work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Then Zoran Djajic, an engineer who had worked on the station, said publicly that a Serbian contractor hired by the Chinese consortium in charge of the renovation had ignored design specifications and dangerously added tons of extra concrete to the canopy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSomebody decided to add extra weight on top, and nobody checked whether the canopy could bear it,\u201d Mr. Djajic said in an interview in Belgrade. \u201cThis was not an accident.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When Mr. Djajic went public in November, pro-government media outlets vilified him. But his revelations helped set off what has since become Serbia\u2019s biggest outpouring of public discontent since the protests that toppled Mr. Milosevic in 2000.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Students, followed quickly by many others, began demanding that those responsible for the railway station tragedy be held to account and that all contracts and other documents relating to the renovation be made public. Since then, the government has released <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.srbija.gov.rs\/dokument\/843976\/dokumenta-ministarstva-gradjevinarstva-saobracaja-i-infrastrukture-koja-se-ticu-moguceg-izvrsenja-krivicnog-dela-povodom-pada-nadstresnice-na-zeleznickoj-stanici-u-novom-sadu-1-novembra-2024-godine.php\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">thousands of documents<\/a>, more than a dozen people have been charged over the disaster and the prime minister, a longtime ally of Mr. Vucic, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/28\/world\/europe\/serbia-vucic-prime-minister-resigns.html\" title=\"\">recently resigned<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the protests show no sign of slowing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Srdjan Bogosavljevic, a pollster, says it is still too soon to count out Mr. Vucic. \u201cIf you ask people if they support students, everyone will say they support them,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no way not to support calls for better institutions and a better life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, he added, this has not translated into a significant fall in Mr. Vucic\u2019s ratings or a surge of support for opposition parties \u2014 only intensified hostility between rival political camps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cSerbia was always polarized, but now this is far more extreme,\u201d he said, adding that people are either very much for Mr. Vucic or very much against him. \u201cYou can\u2019t find people who are neutral.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dragan Djilas, the leader of the main opposition party, said it would be tough to beat Mr. Vucic\u2019s governing party in an election given that it <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.osce.org\/odihr\/elections\/serbia\/563505\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">controls the electoral process<\/a> and access to state and many private media outlets denied to his foes. \u201cUnder these conditions, Vucic will always win,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Students and their supporters say their goal was never to topple Mr. Vucic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cNobody is talking about taking down the president,\u201d said Jelena Schally, who fled Serbia with her family to Iceland during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. \u201cWe just want prosecutors and the courts to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She returned home several years ago to open a small business offering yoga classes in Brdez, a village near Novi Sad, and was shocked to find that her country, despite having improved drastically economically, still lacked a functioning legal system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI know what a normal democratic country looks like from my time in Iceland, and this is not it,\u201d she said after cheering protesters marching past her village.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/europe\/serbia-protests-economy-vucic.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Serbia\u2019s authoritarian leader should be riding high, lifted by economic growth that is four times the European average, falling unemployment<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1547,475,1439,2161,469,476,1543,2162,1546],"class_list":["post-5134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world","tag-aleksandar","tag-demonstrations","tag-economic-conditions-and-trends","tag-milosevic","tag-politics-and-government","tag-protests-and-riots","tag-serbian-progressive-party","tag-slobodan","tag-vucic"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is 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