site.btaSerbian President Tasks Non-Party Candidate to Form Government

In an address to the nation on Sunday evening, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that Prof. Djuro Macut, an endocrinologist, will form the new government. "He has assured me that he can secure a majority in Parliament to elect a new government," Vucic noted. He said the prime minister-designate has an impressive biography.

Prof.  Macut has an academic, research and clinical career and is a frequent guest of the media in Serbia on health-related topics. Dressed in a white apron, Prof. Macut appeared on the scene in Jagodina (Central Serbia) in January as a member of the Initiative Committee for the creation of a new non-partisan movement in Serbia, launched by Aleksandar Vucic in the midst of anti-government protests that have been going on for five months.

The Serbian President also said the new government would be elected by April 18 and would face difficult tasks, such as "resisting all kinds of pressures in terms of regional policy, resolving the issue of tariffs imposed by the United States, accelerating European integration and at the same time preserving our traditional friends in the East, and restoring the level of investment."

"The new government has a big task to continue to preserve peace and stability, to behave tolerantly and patiently. The government must have a clear commitment to the future and our desire and intention is to return Serbia to the winner's pedestal and by the end of the year to become the fastest growing economy," the Serbian President noted.

Vucic said that one of the main tasks of the new government is the implementation of the EXPO 2027 specialised world expo in Belgrade, which, he said, will form the basis for a new investment cycle in the next term.

Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned on  January 28 after a baseball bat attack on protesting students in Novi Sad by supporters of the Serbian Progressive Party, of which he is Chairman.

Since November 2024, when the renovated railway station canopy in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad collapsed, killing 16 people, Serbia has been gripped by demonstrations, work stoppages and acts of civil disobedience, mainly organised by students, who have blockaded more than 60 faculties in four cities and have levelled accusations of corruption and nepotism against the government and President Vucic.