SERBIA: Southern Fires & more – 15th July 2025

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 15th of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Sunday the 13th, the Higher Court in the northern city of Novi Sad allowed the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office to continue to investigate the canopy collapse tragedy after rejecting defense motions to exclude certain evidence.

The case was on hold for nearly a month, during which the Higher Court examined the indictment filed against thirteen individuals, including the former transport minister and some other state officials. They were ultimately released from police custody, but are still facing charges of endangering public safety.

The canopy collapse tragedy sparked outrage in the country, with the lack of accountability from the state causing faculty blockades and daily protests all over Serbia. Even eight months after the incident and the death of sixteen people, the state hasn’t prosecuted anyone.

Speaking of tragedies, the recent fires that broke out in the south of Serbia caused severe property damage and a few deaths. In an effort to aid those affected, the government announced that it had formed a Commission to address the damages caused by the fires, allocating 350 million dinars, which is around three million dollars, for the reconstruction efforts.

However, in the wake of the fires, it was the students and informal citizen councils who volunteered, spread awareness, and gathered donations for the affected. In fact, residents who suffered significant property loss said that the local officials threatened to revoke any state aid if they accepted donations delivered by the students and councils.

As of today, all the fires have been put out. However, the students are still raising funds and receiving donations to help those affected.

On another note, on Sunday the 13th students of the northern town of Uzice staged a protest in the city center, demanding the release of nine people who had been detained recently. The demonstration lasted for nine hours - one for every citizen detained - and included speeches from the Belgrade University rector Djokic, and several lawyers who detailed why the arrests were uncalled for.

Remember that on the 6th of July, police in Uzice forcefully broke a street blockade, injuring students and other protesters, and ended up arresting nine citizens without a clear reason. Several lawyers said that the people arrested didn’t do anything wrong, and criticized the government for using excessive force to scare activists away from their right to protest.

In other news, Kosovar president Osmani recently came under fire for accusing Serbia of planning to escalate conflicts against Kosovo, noting that the US ultimately prevented them. Osmani mentioned a statement by US President Trump from the 29th of June, who recently said that he had prevented war between Serbia and Kosovo. Even though Trump’s statement did not specify when he had prevented a war, Osmani was adamant in her allegations that it was in the recent weeks, saying that she had reliable sources.

President Vucic rejected Osmani’s accusations, adding that they are unfounded and accused her of fearmongering. Richard Grenell, Trump’s Envoy for Special Missions, condemned Osmani’s allegations, and added that she had used Trump’s statement to escalate tensions. He explained that Trump was referring to the Washington peace agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which both parties signed during his term in twenty twenty.

While on the topic of bilateral relations, on Thursday the 10th the activist organization Women in Black held a commemoration gathering in Belgrade’s central square in memory of the genocide in Srebrenica, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The participants unfurled flags which read Responsibility and Solidarity, as well as We will never forget the Srebrenica genocide.

The case of Srebrenica is a touchy subject in Serbia, as some consider it a genocide, but the state officially does not. Activists urged the government to officially designate it as a genocide in order to honor the dignity of the victims. Serbian officials said that acknowledging the Srebrenica massacre as a genocide would put a label on Serbia as a genocidal country, since during the nineteen eighty-five Bosnian war, more than 8,000 Bosnian men and boys died in a massacre which the Serbian forces carried out.

Various entities, including the European Parliament, the UN, and international courts, ruled the massacre as the first genocide in Europe after the Second World War.

Last week, we mentioned that almost all faculties in Serbia had resumed classes and lectures, except for three Belgrade faculties. However, due to the threats from the state in the form of enrollment quota revocation, the three faculties succumbed to the pressure and adopted a plan to make up for the missed classes. Despite the newly adopted plans, students are not going to class and are still blocking their faculties. They added that after nearly eight months of faculty blockades, the government did not fulfill a single student demand.

Recall that students blocked their faculties in early December of twenty twenty-four, demanding that the state release all documents related to the Novi Sad railway station renovation, arrest those responsible for the tragedy, and release all activists from police custody.

Meanwhile, on Friday the 11th, twelve press freedom organizations signed a statement warning the EU of the increasing use of violence against journalists in Serbia. The statement comes a few months after the Media Freedom Rapid Response project reported on the urgent need for media freedom in Serbia.

The organizations that released the statement are calling on the government to cease all attacks on journalists and put more effort into ensuring their safety and legal protection, and guarantee press independence. The statement also calls on the EU to publicly condemn attacks on the media in Serbia, especially officials who enable such behavior. This includes president Vucic, who frequently insults independent media outlets, which end up losing their tv frequencies.

In some economic news, the state Statistical Office published the inflation trends for the month of June and noted that the year-on-year inflation stood at around five percent, while the monthly inflation was around one percent. Compared to May, the annual inflation rate increased by around one percent, while the monthly inflation increased by 0.5 percent. The largest price hikes were seen in the recreation and culture sector, as well as in food and non-alcoholic beverages, with the prices increasing by around two percent.

Salaries will increase, which will help to fight the rising inflation. Last week, the labor minister announced that the minimum monthly net wage will increase by nearly ten percent in October, and will amount to around 58,000 dinars, which is around 580 dollars. Usually, the government introduces minimum wage raises at the start of the year, however, members of the Social and Economic Council voted unanimously to introduce an extraordinary minimum wage hike in October.

The minimum consumer basket cost around 55,000 dinars, around 550 dollars. Citizens earning the current minimum wage, which sits at around 53,000 dinars (about 530 dollars) can barely afford to live comfortably, and usually have to work two jobs.

Still on finances, the government has recently allocated 500 million dinars, which is around 5 million dollars, to the newly established Alimony Fund. The fund will provide financial support for children whose parents fail to pay court-ordered alimony two months in a row, and will amount to 25,000 dinars (around 250 dollars) per child a month. State officials said that the fund aims to reduce the legal burden on single parents—primarily women, who are most affected by unpaid support.

Closing this episode with some cultural news, the northern city of Subotica and town of Palic will hold the annual 32nd Palic European Film Festival from the 19th to the 23rd of July. The festival will screen more than 140 movies from both local and international directors, and most of the screenings will be free of charge.

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

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

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Do daljnjeg, zbogom!