Vucic Promises Cash for Citizens by September 15
The president says pensioners, war veterans with disabilities and the most vulnerable will receive aid by September 15, claiming the money comes from equity funds rather than the state budget.
- President Aleksandar Vucic has announced that financial aid will be paid out by September 15, adding that it could arrive earlier, around September 10.
- The aid is intended for pensioners, war veterans with disabilities and the most socially vulnerable citizens.
- Vucic claims the state has been collecting funds through equity funds for 15 years and that every adult citizen could ultimately receive a payment, not from the state budget.
- No official amount has been announced; some media outlets speculate about a range of 70 to 100 euros.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has announced that financial aid to citizens will be paid out by September 15, adding that the money could arrive even sooner, around September 10. He made the pledge ahead of the autumn elections, which he has already said could be called in September or early October, so the payment and its timing are being read together in public.
The president specified that the aid is meant for pensioners, war veterans with disabilities and the most vulnerable citizens. According to him, the state has spent 15 years collecting funds through so-called equity funds, and the payouts could in the end reach every adult citizen, and not from the state budget. No official per-person figure has been given, and some media outlets speculate about a range of 70 to 100 euros.
Where the money comes from and who qualifies
Vucic stressed that the source is neither tax revenue nor the current budget, but assets accumulated through equity funds over a number of years. The wording is broad: on one side he names target groups, pensioners and the most vulnerable, while on the other he raises the possibility that the payment will ultimately cover all adult citizens. That dual framing leaves room for interpretation, since it remains unclear whether this means an equal amount for everyone or a larger sum for the most fragile categories.
Part of the economic community has already noted that universal cash payments are, as a rule, not the most efficient tool of social policy, because the same amount goes both to those who genuinely need it and to those who do not. The question of mechanism, how funds from these accounts will be converted into actual transfers and by which records, remains open until official details are published.
Is this an election move?
The timeline is what defines this announcement most. A payout by September 15 falls almost exactly alongside the start of the campaign, so the opposition and part of the public read the pledge as an election move aimed at voters. Critics point out that payments before a vote easily turn into a campaign lever, regardless of the formal source of the money.
From the government’s side, the message is different: the president insists these are funds gathered over years and that the payment is the result of long-term policy rather than short-term calculation. It remains to be seen whether the official amount, the exact list of recipients and the legal basis for the payment will be published before the vote, since those are precisely the details that separate a systemic measure from an electoral gesture. Will this announcement mean concrete help for you, or do you see it above all as a message ahead of the vote?
