SERBIA: Novi Sad Protests & more – 12th Nov 2024

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 12th of November twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

Last week, we reported that the canopy above the entrance of the main railway station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed and left fourteen people dead. Now, on Tuesday the 5th, thousands of protesters marched through the city, demanding accountability from Serbian officials for the infrastructure collapse, marking one of the biggest protests in Novi Sad in recent years.

Even though the protest started peacefully, it soon became violent as marchers reached the Novi Sad City Hall. There, protesters vandalized the building, smashing its windows and throwing red paint all over it. That same day, Goran Vesic resigned from his position as the minister of construction, transport, and infrastructure, due to the public’s calls demanding that he take accountability. Despite his resignation, Vesic said that his Ministry bore no responsibility for the tragedy.

Recall that the station underwent a renovation recently, which is why its collapse sparked doubts about the renovation's legitimacy.

Speaking of the Novi Sad protests, journalists who were reporting on the scene said that they had received death threats, alongside being attacked several times by extreme conservatives who supported the government. Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, an international NGO focused on the right to freedom of information, has since asked the information minister and president’s media advisor to implement laws that would punish such attacks. Aside from broken equipment and death threats, journalists were assaulted and tackled to the ground on several occasions. RSF underlined that the state needs urgent action from the authorities in order to put a stop to crimes against journalists.

On Thursday the 7th, president Vucic attended the European Political Community Summit in Budapest, where the main topics were EU enlargement and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. He called on the EU to change its Western Balkans strategy, adding that the EU should make strategic decisions on the bloc enlargement.

He noted that there needs to be a conversation about Serbia’s accession into the EU, as there are some difficult requirements for Serbia, such as sanctions on Russia, which would result in Serbia losing access to Russian gas, and the de facto recognition of Kosovo, which breaks the Serbian Constitution. Vucic said that the EU does not need Serbia currently, so there was no reason to impose such difficult rules for its admission.

Vucic also said that a truce or cease-fire in the war in Ukraine is critical for Europe, noting that any other decision will harm the already brittle peace in the region. He also underlined that Serbia supports Ukraine's efforts to join the EU.

On that note about Vucic, on Sunday the 10th, he talked to newly elected US president Trump on the phone. Vucic congratulated him for his victory, and underlined that Serbia was his biggest European supporter. He then went on to invite Trump over for a visit to Serbia, and expressed hope that ties between the two countries would further improve now that Trump is in office. Aside from Vucic, numerous other Serbian officials supported Trump during the election campaign, including Prime Minister Vucevic and Parliament Speaker Brnabic.

Since we mentioned bilateral relations, on Tuesday the 5th, president Vucic and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping signed twenty-eight cooperation documents on various topics. Among the signed documents was the media agreement between the Serbian news agency Tanjug and China’s Xinhua to exchange news services without charge, allowing both agencies to access the other’s content. Both presidents expressed that these agreements reflect Serbia and China’s commitment to a deeper cultural and informational exchange.

In some news on the economy, last week, the Ministry of Finance proposed approximately fifteen new laws and amendments focused on governing VAT, income tax, and electronic dispatch notes. The ministry said that these laws will introduce a new personal registry as well as the increase of the non-taxable portion of income. The news registry will serve as a central database that defines the criteria for determining someone’s residency, since residents of Serbia are required to pay tax on their worldwide income and non-residents are not. When it comes to the non-taxable portion of income, the ministry said that they would raise that number to around 28,500 dinars, which is around 260 dollars, compared to the current 25,000 dinars, or about 230 dollars.

Talking about dinars, they have seen a drop in value of around thirty percent in the last five years. Economist Milan Kovacevic said that this drop comes into the picture when discussing potential wage increases, referring to last week’s projections by president Vucic about average salaries. Vucic said that the average salary would amount to over 130,000 dinars, which is around 1,200 dollars, by the end of twenty twenty-six, compared to the current 90,000 dinars, or around 870 dollars.

Kovacevic said that while these numbers point to a significant leap, the actual increase is harder to calculate due to the dinar’s drop in value. He highlighted that inflation is often overlooked when discussing wage increases, as higher inflation rates significantly lower the impact of the rise in salaries. Kovacevic added that instead of boosting salaries, the state should focus on stabilizing the inflation within the next couple of years.

In more economic news, the government adopted a new budget bill for twenty twenty-five on Thursday the 7th. The budget forecasts total expenses of around 2.6 trillion dinars, which is around twenty-four billion dollars, resulting in a fiscal deficit of three percent of the GDP, which is also expected to grow by around four percent in twenty twenty-five. On the other hand, the government expects the public debt to amount to around fifty percent of the GDP.

The budget bill projects that the total revenues and receipts will amount to around two trillion dinars, which is around twenty-one billion dollars, in twenty twenty-five, marking an increase of around eight percent compared to the amount predicted for twenty twenty-four.

On Friday the 8th, Serbian operator SBB announced that their SBB Player of the Match humanitarian project in collaboration with a TV service Sport Klub has so far gathered and donated around one million dinars, which is around eleven thousand dollars, to charity. The project consists of a voting phase, during which a jury of Sport Klub journalists picks the best player from a match. After that, the elected player chooses a charity and then donates 120,000 dinars, which is 1,100 dollars. SBB said that by the end of the current season of Euroleague, the project intends to raise around 8.5 million dinars, that is, around eighty thousand dollars.

On the same day, the World Air Quality Index project revealed that Belgrade, Pristina and Sarajevo were among the top ten most polluted cities in the world, just behind Lahore, Delhi, and Beijing.

The air pollution in the region spiked with the start of the heating season. Ecologists from the Belgrade-based National Ecological Association said that a large portion of citizens in the Balkans still rely on old heating technologies and fuel, such as coal, which significantly pollutes the air. Doctors advised citizens, and especially people with respiratory diseases, to avoid prolonged outdoor activities.

And to wrap up this edition on a more positive note, from the 15th to the 17th of November, Belgrade’s Youth Center will host the tenth annual Independent American Film Festival titled IndieBelgrade. The festival aims to share America’s independent film scene with the Serbian audience, featuring new titles such as Ghostlight, Paying for It, and Good Girl. The tickets for each movie retail for 400 dinars, which is around four dollars, and are available through the eFinity sales network and online.

For more information, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Thanks for sticking around for this episode of the Rorshok Serbia update! If you’ve got questions, thoughts, or just want to say hi, reach out at info@rorshok.com. Don’t forget to hit subscribe on your favorite podcast app!

Do daljnjeg, zbogom!