Milos Vucevic announces he is stepping down as prime minister of Serbia on Tuesday after only 8 months in the job as the central European nation is swept by anti-government protests sparked by the deadly collapse of a concrete canopy at a main city railroad station in the north of the country. Photo by Andrej Cukic/EPA-EFE
Jan. 28 (UPI) — Serbian Prime Minister Milos Vucevic resigned Tuesday following a wave of nationwide protests over the deaths of 15 people killed in a railroad station roof collapse in November in Novi Sad, the country’s second-largest city.
Vucevic told a news conference he had made the decision to go after student protesters were allegedly attacked after spraying anti-government graffiti and posting stickers outside the Novi Sad offices of his Serbian Progressive Party.
He said the country appeared “stuck” in its fixation on the collapse following an apparent botched renovation project at the station but acknowledged it had thrown up deep divisions in Serbian society which he said he deeply regretted.
However, Vucevic also appeared to try to deflect blame by suggesting the student protests were incited by foreign entities and that the opposition was exploiting the situation for their own ends.
The government will remain in office until a new prime minister and cabinet are appointed or a snap election is called, with a 30-day deadline either way.
Large demonstrations have taken place across the country alleging corruption, demanding officials take responsibility and calling for greater oversight of construction projects even as Transport Minister Goran Vesic — who quit days after the Nov. 1 tragedy — and more than a dozen others were arrested and charged.
Vesic has strongly denied the allegations that he and his staff bore no responsibility for the tragedy.
“I voluntarily responded to the call of police officers with whom I came to Novi Sad and made myself available to the investigative authorities,” he said after the collapse.
Critics allege murky bid and procurement processes for government infrastructure projects favor a handful of preferred contractors in a way that places the public at risk.
President Aleksandar Vucic has tried to distance himself from the row warning that those responsible for the disaster would face consequences while at the same time vowing he would not back down in the face of protests calling for heads to roll.
The renovation of the Novi Sad station began in 2021 as part of the government’s Chinese-funded showcase high-speed rail line linking the capital, Belgrade, with Budapest in neighboring Hungary, with Novi Sad a key stop on the 235-mile route.
As a former mayor of Novi Sad, Vucevic and Vucic are closely allied and heavily politically invested in the project which was completed in July, a little more than two years after Vucic and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban unveiled the scheme amid a general election campaign that returned Vucic to a second term.