Zdravko Ponos, a former Serbian army commander-in-chief who is now an opposition party leader, told lawmakers from the governing party that “you will demolish something that is a symbol for this nation.”
“With the agreement you signed with the most important son-in-law on the planet, you have obliged to tear this down and clear at the cost of Serbia’s taxpayers,” Ponos said.
Serbia was bombed in 1999 for 78 days to force then-President Slobodan Milosevic, to end his crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Anti-NATO sentiments in Serbia remain strong to this day and many feel the U.S. role in revamping the army headquarters is particularly sensitive.
In the past year, Vucic has faced youth-led protests shaking his grip on power. Protesters have accused his government of rampant corruption in state projects. The protests started after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in the northern city of Novi Sad after renovation, killing 16 people.
Tens of thousands of people on Nov. 1 marked the tragedy’s anniversar y in the city of Novi Sad.
Earlier this year, the government in Albania, another Balkan country, approved a $1.6 billion plan from Kushner’s company for investment off its Adriatic coast that envisages turning a communist-era fortified island into a luxury resort.