Macut: early call on elections, the government is working at full capacity

Prime Minister of the Republic of Serbia Professor Djuro Macut said in Belgrade on 8 May that calling snap parliamentary elections “is a matter of judgement” and that, in his view, there is no need to rush the decision, the Pravda Balkan portal reports. Macut added that the Serbian government continues to work at full capacity and remains available to the National Assembly at any moment, speaking at a press conference after a regular cabinet meeting.

The cabinet headed by Macut comprises 30 ministers, with Sinisa Mali as first deputy prime minister and finance minister, Ivica Dacic as deputy prime minister and interior minister, and Adrijana Mesarovic as deputy prime minister and economy minister, according to the government’s website. The cabinet was formed on 16 April 2025 after the resignation of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic, with Macut keeping most ministers from the previous line-up.

In his latest public appearance, the daily Danas reports, Macut rejected speculation that a reshuffle is inevitable before the autumn elections, saying the question of “replacing tired ministers” is present in cabinet discussions but is not about a “fake reshuffle”, as some opposition critics have framed it. The prime minister added that each ministry has concrete work plans for the second half of 2026.

Is a genuine personnel change possible before the vote?

From the opposition, Marinika Tepic of the Party of Freedom and Justice said any pre-election reshuffle should cover more ministries which, in her view, have “remained in the shadow of pre-election activity”. Vladeta Jankovic of the People’s Party asked whether Macut’s cabinet already has a defined new personnel structure for some portfolios, or whether this is about “ad hoc rotations without a programme”.

From the ruling coalition, SNS parliamentary leader Milenko Jovanov said the cabinet has the confidence of parliament and “need not be changed because the opposition wants a different line-up”, adding that specific personnel questions should be left until after the parliamentary results. Speaker of Parliament Ana Brnabic said the government is functioning stably and that earlier reshuffle talk, which then-Prime Minister Vucevic raised back in 2024, remains an open question for after the vote.

On the academic side, Faculty of Political Sciences professor Milan Jovanovic told N1 that pre-election reshuffles in Serbian political practice often serve as “pre-election cosmetics” rather than as substantive policy change. In his view, more serious personnel realignment should be expected after the parliamentary elections, when a new parliament forms a new ruling majority.

From what we understand, at the top of SNS, discussions on the composition of the parliamentary list are already under way, and the candidacy of several sitting ministers, including names mentioned from the economy and European integration portfolios, remains in play as part of a strategy of refreshing the talent pool. Whether Prime Minister Macut himself will be on the list, or whether he will remain on a “volunteer” mandate as he described his role in April, will be settled in parallel with the consolidation of the candidate lists.

In May Macut signed in Belgrade an agreement with Republika Srpska Prime Minister Sava Minic on establishing a rail line between Visegrad and Mokra Gora, a project flagged as a priority in the “Serbia 2030” strategy and a confirmation of continued cooperation between the two governments. With the same caution as the Serbian opposition, some political representatives of the Bosniak community in Republika Srpska have asked that the agreement be presented in the RS National Assembly before signing. From the Serbian side, the diplomatic line is that technical protocols for the start of works could be signed by the end of June, with the first construction phase, according to the Ministry of Construction and Infrastructure, due to start in 2027.

The next item on the calendar is the government meeting set for 30 May, which is expected to consider the first operational report on the implementation of the “Serbia 2030” strategy, along with information on first-quarter 2026 budget execution.