Thewesternbalkans
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić on Saturday (30 March) nominated Milos Vučević to be prime minister and to lead a new government. The nomination comes more than three months after their party, the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), won a national election on 17 December. Vučević took over leadership of the party after Vučić stepped down last year.
Vučić wrote on Instagram: “I propose to parliament Milos Vučević as candidate for prime minister of Serbia,”.
Vučević is a lawyer by profession. He was deputy prime minister and defence minister in the government of his predecessor Ana Brnabić.
The ruling party has 113 seats in the 250-seat parliament and will have to seek partners to form a government.
The Socialists and the List Of Vojvodina Hungarians, both traditional partners of the SNS, have 13 and 6 deputies respectively.
Vučević is expected to form a government in the coming weeks.
Comment: Milos Vučević is coming through a time of war in Europe and heightened tensions with Kosovo. He will face a difficult task in balancing Serbia’s ties with Russia and China while pursuing its goal of European Union membership.
The government will also have to resolve issues with the country’s former province of Kosovo, seen by the EU authorities as a special condition for progress in EU membership talks.
The deadline for the formation of the new government is May 6, 90 days after the assembly’s constitution. Failure to form a government within this timeframe could lead to the dissolution of the National Assembly.
