Serbian Parliament passes 2025 budget, opposition boycotts sitting

Opposition MPs earlier said that the Monday clashes in the Parliament were deliberately staged in order for the government to push through laws that affect the lives of Serbian citizens.

The opposition announced plans to file a criminal complaint against Serbian Parliament speaker Ana Brnabic, over suspicions of abuse of office.

The Parliament also adopted, in the absence of the opposition, amendments to the Law on Games of Chance, Criminal Code, Law on Prevention of Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism, Law on Energy and other legislation. There are more than 60 items on the agenda.

The sitting began on Monday but was interrupted after multiple incidents, including a physical altercation between government and opposition MPs. The opposition had demanded that a vote of no confidence in the Serbian Government be added to the agenda following the tragedy in Novi Sad.

During Monday’s sitting, after a break that followed the physical altercation, the MPs of the ruling majority passed all items on that day’s agenda without debate, and Speaker Brnabic then closed the sitting.