Brnabic: We are ready to meet demands identified by students as unfulfilled

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Wednesday state institutions were ready to meet, within 48 hours, demands identified by student protesters as unfulfilled.

In an appearance on Happy TV, Brnabic said there was no need to amend the Law on Higher Education to meet the students' fourth demand - an increase of funding for universities.

Brnabic said steps to address the demand would be taken by next week "so that we can agree that at least that one demand has been met in full."

The problem is that an extrainstitutional struggle is going on in the streets in Serbia, Brnabic said, adding that this was due to the fact the student protesters had no political representatives in institutions.

Extrainstitutional struggle is a problem for democracy in a society, she said.

"The students engaging in blockades and the citizens who support them have no representatives in institutions - if they had them in the parliament, the struggle would be going on in the parliament. The opposition in the parliament is not representing anyone anymore. We have an opposition that has no credibility, they have become extremists," Brnabic said.