President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic announced today that Ana Brnabic is the candidate for the new Prime Minister.
President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic announced today that Ana Brnabic is the candidate for the new Prime Minister.
In his address to the public, Vucic stated that in accordance with the Constitution, after listening to the opinions of the representatives of the electoral lists, he made a decision on the proposal of the candidate for the Prime Minister.
The President of the Republic stated that the decision was complicated and complex even within the largest party in the country, with coalition partners, and added that all three candidates for this position will be important members of the government.
I propose to the National Assembly of Serbia Ana Brnabic as a candidate for Prime Minister. That decision enters into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette. Ana Brnabic will not be prime minister for four years. Her term will be shorter, there will be changes in 2024, he pointed out.
Vucic pointed out that it is important that Brnabic remains prime minister so that we can continue and work diligently on solving problems for the autumn and winter, noting that it is important to have someone with experience in that period.
He said that the new government of Serbia should be formed in the next 20 days and repeated that there will be many changes in it.
The President of the Republic also said that in the next few days he expects a response from the European Union to Belgrade's proposal, according to which Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija would be enabled to enter and leave Kosovo and Metohija with Serbian identity cards, noting that Serbs from the province cannot be subject to the visa regime.
It is important to us that every Serb from Leposavic, Kosovska Mitrovica, Gracanica can enter Kosovo and Metohija and leave with documents from the Republic of Serbia. If they guarantee it to us from the EU, we have solved one problem, he emphasised.
He said that there is apparently no agreement regarding license plates, adding that the issue of the Community of Serbian Municipalities will be a precondition for talks with Pristina on any issue in the future.
According to him, the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija is deepening, but it is important that Serbia reacts calmly and not to be declared guilty of the collapse of the negotiations.
Our talks with the Kosovar Albanians were very unsuccessful, with mediators from the EU and the USA extremely difficult, and in the end we came to the point that we do not agree on anything regarding recognition, he said.
He announced that a big session of the Open Balkans initiative will be held in Belgrade from 1 September, which will be attended by the prime ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama and Dimitar Kovacevski, as well as the foreign ministers of Turkey and Hungary.
The President of the Republic also stated that there are no plans for electricity restrictions next winter, but that the situation in that area is extremely difficult, which is why it is important that the new government, which will deal with it, be formed in the next 20 days.