- Serbian Prime Minister steps down amid massive protests
In the last days of January, protests that unleashed in Serbia over a deadly accident at the Novi Sad train station, where a canopy fell on people, killing 15, became more widespread.
On January 24, a “General Strike” was held in Serbia. The action was initiated by students who have been blocking dozens of universities since late last year. Some schools, cultural institutions, public catering facilities, shops, and media outlets were shut down. Thousands of people took part in marches, rallies, and short-term road blocking in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Niš, and many other cities.
The authorities tried to counter the protest movement by gathering their supporters in the small town of Jagodina (central Serbia) and establishing a new political “Movement for the People and the State”. On the evening of January 24, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić took part in a rally, where about 50,000 people greeted him.
However, on January 27-28, a new protest action was organized – a round-the-clock blockade of one of the largest transport intersections in Belgrade. The initiative was again taken by students.
On the evening of January 27, Aleksandar Vučić emphasized in a special address that he was ready for dialogue, and that all the students’ demands that had not yet been met would be accepted.
The students’ first demand was the publication of all paperwork regarding the reconstruction of the Novi Sad train station. According to the president, the government had published over 13,000 documents in the previous period, and in addition, on January 27, another 925 documents were released regarding construction work at the said rail station. “There is no other documentation that would be related to anything that was built at the Novi Sad train station,” Vučić said.
The students’ second demand is the identification and prosecution of all persons suspected of physical attacks on students and faculty who participated in the protests. According to Vučić, the Serbian prosecutor’s office has already opened criminal cases against 37 persons for attacks on students and teachers.
The students’ third request concerned pardoning detained protesters. On January 27, Vučić announced, and on January 29, he decided to pardon 13 people who participated in the protests – students, teachers, and other staffers from educational institutions.
The students’ fourth demand was to increase the budget for higher education by 20 percent. Vučić agreed to consider the issue, noting that the increase would cost the state an additional 12.01 billion dinars, in addition to the scheduled 60.5 billion.
The president also announced on January 27 the need for an urgent restructuring of the government. The next day, Serbian Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned. In his address to citizens, Vučević said that the reason for his resignation was the attack on students that occurred the day before in Novi Sad outside the Serbian Progressive Party building. The mayor of Novi Sad, Milan Đurić, also stepped down.
The resignation of the prime minister means that the entire government resigns and all members of the government become caretaker (as part of a government with a technical mandate).
On January 28, Vučić addressed the citizens of Serbia, announcing that a decision would be made in the next 10 days whether to call new parliamentary elections.
“Serbia will maintain stability, Serbia will maintain peace, and in the next 10 days we will decide whether to go to elections or form a new government. … Our main task will be to maintain complete stability, and I will personally address this,” he said.
- Fight against “foreign influence on protests” complicates Serbia’s relations with neighbors
As is known, the Serbian leadership accused the students who participated in the protests of following orders from foreign actors aimed at overthrowing President Aleksandar Vučić.
As part of this stance, on January 21, Serbian security agencies conducted a raid in Belgrade against participants in an international seminar organized by the Austrian NGO Academy, founded by the ERSTE Foundation. According to media reports, a total of 13 foreign citizens from Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Albania, Moldova, Romania, Austria, and the Czech Republic were detained and deported.
The ERSTE Foundation subsequently issued a statement confirming the reports that 13 participants of the conference in Belgrade from eight countries were taken to a police station, interrogated, and eventually banned from entering the country. “Neither the team from the Vienna University of Economics and Business (co-founder of the NGO Academy) nor anyone from the ERSTE Foundation were informed why this happened. The program has been running since 2013, and several similar seminars have been held in Belgrade prior to that,” the report said.
The Austrian Embassy protested the actions of the Serbian authorities toward the participants of the event in Belgrade.
Croatia sent a note of protest to Serbia over the detention of Croatian citizens and recommended that its citizens postpone all non-essential trips to Serbia.
The Romanian Embassy in Belgrade has sought an explanation from the Serbian authorities.
The Serbian ambassador in Tirana was summoned to the Albanian Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to provide clarification on the case.
- Protesters in Montenegro demand resignation of two ministers
Thousands of students and citizens who supported them protested on the evening of January 25 in Podgorica, demanding that Montenegrin Prime Minister Milojko Spajic dismiss security chiefs sector due to the failure of the police during the mass killing in Cetinje on January 1.
As is known, on the first day of the new year, a local resident of Cetinje shot almost 15 people, 12 of whom died on the spot and others were hospitalized. The criminal committed suicide during a police raid to apprehend him.
Citizens accuse the authorities of the failure of the policing work, which led to the tragedy.
Since early January, citizens have demanded the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Danil Šaranović and Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Defense Aleksa Bečić at large rallies, but government officials have ignored their demands. Now the protesters have “changed the address to which requests are sent” and are urging Prime Minister Milojko Spajić to dismiss Minister Šaranović and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksa Bečić.
If their demands are not met soon, the protesters are preparing to hold civil disobedience actions.
The protest is led by an informal student group “Kamo śutra?”
In addition to the release of Šaranović and Bečić, protesters are demanding the confiscation and destruction of illegal firearms, a review of weapons permits, a reform of the system of functioning of police structures, the return of civic education as a mandatory subject in schools, and improved institutional access to psychiatric care.
- Ukraine, Albania sign agreement on cooperation and support
The document was signed on January 21 in Davos by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The “Agreement on Long-Term Cooperation and Support between Ukraine and the Republic of Albania” consists of five sections: “Security and Defense”, “Political Cooperation and Assistance to Accountability”, “Humanitarian Assistance, Development Cooperation and Reconstruction”, “Cooperation in the Event of a Future Russian Armed Attack” and “Final Provisions”, which, among other thins, determines the term of the Agreement (10 years).
“Albania has been providing Ukraine with military and humanitarian assistance since the outset of the full-scale invasion and will continue to provide support throughout the 10-year term of the agreement,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
In recent years, Ukraine and Albania have been actively developing bilateral relations, and the Agreement on Cooperation and Support is not the only important agreement between Kyiv and Tirana signed in 2024-2025. In particular, in February 2024, the leaders of both states signed the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation.
