State Coffers Repacked Again Ahead of Elections

BETAPHOTO/National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia/Milos Miskov

Members of the Parliament of Serbia began debating a budget rebalancing act on Aug. 24, amending this year’s Budget Act at a session with 59 items on the agenda, called as urgent. None of the bills on the agenda required urgent passage, aside of the budget rebalancing act, which must be passed promptly, as the authorities led by Aleksandar Vucic are in a hurry to use a tried-and-tested formula to make legal the now traditional pre-election vote buying through cash handouts to citizens.