On Sunday evening, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić ended weeks of speculation about who might be the next Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia.
Some joked that Google crashed when Vučić announced the name because citizens rushed to search for Đuro Macut – Vučić’s choice for the constitutionally most important position in the country.
Macut is a Serbian endocrinologist and a professor that the University of Belgrade, Faculty of Medicine, and also teaches as a visiting professor at universities in Athens and Skopje. He specialized in reproductive medicine and biology at the University of Geneva and the World Health Organization. He serves as president of the Serbian Society for Reproductive Endocrinology and is a member of the Executive Board of the European Society of Endocrinology.
“He is a wonderful man, of incredible courage, exceptional boldness, and immense knowledge and reputation. Wherever he goes, he will only enhance the reputation of our country. Truly a source of pride for every citizen of Serbia”, Vučić said.
Vučić was probably not convinced that Macut is the right person to lead the new Serbian government because of his knowledge of polycystic ovary syndrome. It’s more likely that opinion polls told the Serbian president that the new head of the government should be someone outside the establishment of the Serbian Progressive Party, whose presence will attempt to halt the steep decline in popularity of both the President and the party.
Such a person fits into the President’s strategy to replace SNS – tainted by corruption and numerous scandals – with the supposedly non-partisan Movement for the People and the State, whose formation is already underway and which will be officially presented at Vučić’s rally later this week.
While mass protests by students and citizens have been ongoing in the country for more than four months, alongside a government crackdown on the university, Vučić needed a Prime Minister who would perfectly fit the narrative that the remaining defiant professors are criminals, idle, and people seeking to stage a colour revolution.
What is certain is that Đuro Macut will not be the kind of person who gets too involved in the job of Prime Minister. And that is exactly the kind of person President Aleksandar Vučić wants – as he remains the central political figure in the country despite the limits set by the Constitution of Serbia.
Many have already forgotten the name of the future Prime Minister, who has decided not to speak to the media until taking office. More interesting than the name of the new Prime Minister was Vučić’s hint that the current mayor of Ljubljana, Zoran Janković, could become a player on the Serbian political scene.