Stefanovic Calls Brnabic's Vojvodina Dialing Code Claim Dangerous

Borko Stefanovic, deputy leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, on Sunday rejected claims by parliament speaker Ana Brnabic that the Platform for a European Serbia is preparing separatism in Vojvodina, calling them not only false but dangerous. The reaction came in Belgrade, at the height of the election campaign, and within hours became one of the most discussed political exchanges of the weekend.

The trigger was a statement by Brnabic, who ironically suggested that the platform’s first point would be to reserve a separate international dialing code, +384, for Vojvodina, implying an intention to split the province from the rest of the country. Stefanovic characterized that claim as a deliberate construction by the leadership of the ruling party.

What Stefanovic actually said

“It is not just very foolish, what Ana Brnabic is saying. It is also very dangerous, because with lies like these the radicals traditionally create conflict and division in Serbia,” Stefanovic said. In his words, messages about breaking up the country serve only to frighten and split the electorate, rather than to open any genuine issue.

The SSP deputy leader also spelled out his position on the province itself. Vojvodina, he said, is an inalienable part of Serbia, and anyone claiming otherwise is speaking falsely about his party. Stefanovic then noted, not without irony, that the current government was in charge of the state when Kosovo was assigned its own telephone dialing code, so the question of who is lecturing whom about territorial integrity is, in his view, misplaced.

With that, the exchange shifted from the terrain of security to the terrain of political accountability. Instead of answering the accusation of separatism, the opposition returned the accusation to its sender, arguing that the government has used fear of division as an electoral weapon for two decades.

Why this matters before the vote

A dispute over a single sentence about a dialing code looks like a routine squabble, but its timing is no accident. In a campaign, each side chooses the terrain on which it fights best. The government traditionally wins when the topic is the state, borders and survival, while the opposition tries to steer the conversation back to living standards, corruption and institutions.

That is why this episode is more than an insult traded through the media. It shows how the campaign’s final stretch will look, with terms such as separatism and betrayal thrown into circulation without supporting evidence, betting that the accusation itself will linger in voters’ memory longer than any denial. Brnabic has so far not backed her claim with a concrete platform document, while Stefanovic has not offered a written program that would fully disprove it.

That leaves the key question for voters. When politicians start arguing about dialing codes instead of bills, wages and courts, who ultimately pays the price of such a campaign?