Vucic Invites Belgrade’s Board of Rectors to Dialogue on Student Demands

Aleksandar Vučić (BETAPHOTO/Milan Ilic)

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, has invited the Board of Rectors of the University of Belgrade to open talks on Feb. 5 regarding the fulfillment of student demands and other issues that could contribute to ending faculty blockades across the country, promising that relevant institutions were "ready to work around the clock to meet all student demands."

"I am convinced that only through dialogue can we jointly find out if the students' demands have been met, and to what extent, while specifying the necessary actions to be taken for these demands to be met in an expected manner," Vucic stated. The president also said that the invitation was "primarily for the benefit of the University, students, and professors, as well as all citizens and the state, while respecting everyone's right to react and express their opinion."

"I invite you to begin discussions on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at a time most convenient for you, for the benefit not only of young people but of society as a whole," Vucic said.

Professor Milo Lompar of the Faculty of Philology in Belgrade said that the Board of Rectors should not accept President Vucic's invitation for the talks until all student demands have been met, and that no decision should be made without prior consultations with student assemblies.

"This proposal is part of the government's strategy to attempt to create a divide between students. Everything the authorities in Serbia re doing boils down to an attempt at dividing and sowing discord among students and professors," Lompar said in a comment for BETA.