Regular Spring Session of Serbian Parliament to Begin on March 4 without Opposition

Formation of New Serbian Parliament Marked with Boos and Banners, Belgrade, Feb. 6 2024 (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV)

The regular spring session of the Serbian parliament is due to begin on March 4 with 62 items on the agenda, but some opposition parties have announced that they will not participate.

The agenda includes amendments to the Law on higher education, a bill on youth housing loans, a vote on relieving Speaker Ana Brnabic, and also the ratification of the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic.

Caucuses of the ruling and opposition parties have announced a total of 20 news conferences for tomorrow, while some opposition caucuses have said that they will not participate in the work of the parliament.

Borko Stefanovic, deputy president of the Freedom and Justice Party, has said that it was "absurd to playact at normality while the student demands have not been met and the country is under blockade" and that "participating in a hijacked system in the hands of one man would be offensive."

Miroslav Aleksic, president of the People's Movement of Serbia, said the MPs from his party would be present in the parliament during the March 4 session and that there would be certain activities, but would not specify what they would be or if he would take part in the session.

Srdjan Milivojevic, the president of the Democratic Party, said the MPs from his party would not participate in the parliament's March 4 session because they did not want to be party to "an illusion of parliamentarianism, a farce and Vucic's stalling for time," adding that there would be no sessions until the demands were met.

New Democratic Party of Serbia president Milos Jovanovic said the coalition his party belonged to, NADA, would not participate in the discussion of the March 4 session, not wanting to lend legitimacy to the "grotesque government."