Serbia’s opposition Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) has accused President Aleksandar Vučić of “playing the savior” during his visit to Medveđa, arguing that years of government policies have left southern Serbia economically weakened and depopulated.
SSP MP Jelena Spirić said Vučić had “the audacity” to appear before socially vulnerable families after what she described as 14 years of policies that had impoverished and emptied much of southern Serbia.
“Do not play the savior in front of people whom you have deprived of the right to a dignified life,” Spirić said in a written statement.
She pointed to the economic situation in the Jablanica District, saying the average salary there is around 28,000 dinars below the national average, amounting to roughly 340,000 dinars less per year.
At the same time, Spirić criticized the compensation received by Aleksandar Martinović, head of the Coordinating Body for the municipalities of Medveđa, Bujanovac and Preševo, arguing that he receives approximately the same amount from the state budget in a single month.
“Your official responsible for the ‘development’ of Medveđa receives in one month what a worker in the south loses over an entire year,” Spirić said.
She also accused the government of using promises about development and the return of young people for electoral purposes.
“And then, before elections, you come out with stories about ‘priorities’ and the ‘return of young people.’ Which young people, Mr. Vučić? Those who flee as soon as they save enough money for a bus ticket?” she asked.
Spirić argued that the long-term economic decline and population loss in southern Serbia could no longer be dismissed as accidental.
“When you keep people at the bottom in terms of wages for years, leave them without prospects and watch towns and villages empty out, this is no longer a coincidence, but a policy through which you consciously produce the exodus of your own people from southern Serbia,” she said.
