Vucic Interrupts Kraljevo Mayor in Front of Crowd
Aleksandar Vucic interrupted Kraljevo Mayor Predrag Terzic during a visit to the Raska District, and later announced a new diagnostic center at the Kraljevo hospital.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic publicly cut off Kraljevo Mayor Predrag Terzic while addressing citizens in the suburb of Ribnica on Monday, August 24. Footage from the gathering was released today, capturing the moment the president took the microphone and interrupted Terzic mid-explanation over why a project had not been finished.
The scene played out during a one-day tour of the Raska District, which also took Vucic to Novi Pazar and Raska. Over the course of the day, the president inspected the finishing work on the full reconstruction of the “Raska” elementary school in Raska and on the new surgical wing at the Novi Pazar General Hospital, and visited the Bugaric family in Vranovina near Dezeva and the Dubovac family in the village of Comage, not far from Joanicka Banja. According to the schedule, the meeting with Kraljevo residents was set for 4:10 p.m., followed by a tour of construction on the Reception and Diagnostic Center at the “Studenica” General Hospital at 4:50 p.m.
Terzic is serving his third term as mayor of Kraljevo, elected on the back of a majority coalition between the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). At the Ribnica gathering, he tried to explain to those present that the disputed land was military property and that state institutions had not been in talks with one another over it. That was when Vucic cut him off.
“Why is that, Terzic… Do you really think anyone on earth cares what you just said? Why are you explaining this now? Do you really think people care to hear you tell them, ‘it’s military land, and the state hasn’t talked to the state, so it couldn’t be resolved’? People, are you all right? What’s gotten into you? You haven’t been here since yesterday. You haven’t even been here for a year. If you couldn’t talk to state institutions until now, who exactly will you talk to? Why haven’t you finished amending the document? Need time? We need to stare at the sun for four years, and then in year five it’ll finally change.”
The president delivered the remark in front of the assembled crowd, who, according to the available footage, responded with applause while Terzic listened in silence.
What Vucic Announced at the Kraljevo Hospital
Later that same day, at the “Studenica” General Hospital, the president spoke about the construction of the Reception and Diagnostic Center. Work on the building began on March 30, the deadline for completion is 499 calendar days, and the value of the works exceeds 1.3 billion dinars. The project is financed by the Ministry of Public Investment and the Council of Europe Development Bank.
“This gives Kraljevo one of the most modern diagnostic centers,” Vucic said while touring the construction site.
The president also cited figures on the municipality’s road infrastructure. “Kraljevo has 2,089 kilometers of uncategorized roads. It’s the second or third largest municipality in Serbia by area,” he said, adding that roads were therefore local government’s biggest problem.
Ministers Darko Glisic, Zlatibor Loncar and Adrijana Mesarovic joined the president in touring the hospital construction. Vucic also addressed staffing at Kraljevo’s healthcare system: more than 70 doctors are currently in specialist training, and 24 doctors have been hired at the Kraljevo hospital since the launch of the program for top graduates.
The “Studenica” General Hospital today operates at the secondary level of care, covering specialist consultative and inpatient treatment. According to historical sources, Serbia’s first hospital is tied to this very region, dating to the Nemanjic period of the early 13th century, when it was built under the name “Holy Spirit” on the model of the Hilandar monastery hospital, within the grounds of the monastery of the same name.
A Visit Ahead of Local Elections
The Serbian Progressive Party’s official election campaign has not yet begun, but party officials have spent weeks touring towns and municipalities across Serbia. The visit to the Raska District was therefore not only an occasion for a public rebuke of Terzic, but also a chance to showcase investments in healthcare and infrastructure across the region, from Novi Pazar and Raska to Kraljevo.
Terzic remains in office for now, and the dispute over the military land in Ribnica, the very issue for which he was reprimanded in public, is still unresolved. Whether the matter will be off the table by the president’s next visit to Kraljevo, or back in front of the cameras, remains unknown for now.
