Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Ana Brnabic will step down as prime minister to become speaker of parliament after leading the government of the Western Balkan nation for nearly seven years.
The ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) could decide on a new prime minister next week, Vucic said on March 6 in Belgrade, after a meeting of the party's leadership.
Ms Brnabic, 49, who is openly gay and studied in the UK, became Serbia's first female prime minister when she was appointed in June 2017.
Ms Brnabic has since become Serbia’s longest-serving government leader in more than a century. President Vucic cited the need for “energy change” without elaborating on the reason for the prime minister’s resignation.
The SNS party, which Mr Vucic co-founded and Ms Brnabic joined in 2019, won snap general elections held last December, securing a comfortable majority in Serbia’s 250-seat parliament despite opposition accusations of irregularities and unfair election conditions. A new cabinet could be formed later this month.
Serbia's parliamentary elections, the fifth since 2012, were triggered by two mass shootings in May 2023 that sparked widespread protests in the country of 6.8 million. Tens of thousands of protesters took part in anti-government rallies across Serbia.
“She really deserves to take on one of the highest positions in the country,” Mr Vucic told reporters.
The announcement came as Ms Brnabic was in the capital Bucharest of neighboring Romania to attend the European People's Party Congress. She thanked Mr Vucic and said taking on the role of Speaker of the Parliament was a great honour but also a great challenge .
Minh Duc (According to Bloomberg, Reuters)
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