Brnabic: Rector, deans risk going down in history as destroyers of university system

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Thursday University of Belgrade Rector Vladan Djokic and deans risked going down in history as the destroyers of the Serbian university system unless a solution to the current situation in higher education was found through discussions with PM Djuro Macut.

Speaking to Prva TV, Brnabic said she found it difficult to talk about Macut's discussions with the rector and the deans because she had great respect for the PM.

"He is the man we needed at this time, the man that was needed by Serbian politics, a calm, composed, serious man of dialogue and compromise, but not someone who can be manipulated. I believe in his abilities, I think the discussions are probably difficult, and tortuous at times, because you have to speak with people who have decided to suspend the Constitution and the laws of Serbia," Brnabic said.

There is no justification for suspending the Constitution and the law, she noted.

"I hope a solution will be found, otherwise the rector and the deans will go down in history as people who have destroyed Serbian universities," she said.

"This is not only about one academic year, but about the entire university system," Brnabic noted.

She said that, after cancelling an agreed meeting with President Aleksandar Vucic, Djokic had also brought forward a meeting with Macut.

"But it would probably never occur to him to cancel a meeting with a foreign ambassador in Serbia or someone from the EU delegation," she added.