After amendments to the constitution, adopted in 2006, Serbia became a republic with a presidential-parliamentary form of government. In other words, the power of the President of Serbia is limited by a strong parliament, but at the same time he is not a formal head of state, but plays an important role in governance, being responsible for the country's foreign policy. The current Serbian leader is a politician with a rich biography, who worked as a minister under Slobodan Milosevic.
Budding student
Alexander Vučić was born in Belgrade in 1970. As a child, he showed great expectations, was an excellent student, won the Olympiads in law and history, became the champion of Belgrade in chess. After graduation, the future president of Serbia entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Belgrade, where he graduated with honors. As one of the best students of his course, Alexander was a scholar at the Young Scientists Foundation.
During the war in Yugoslavia , an excellent student worked on Channel C in Republika Srpska, where he prepared and conducted news blocks in English. He learned the language in England, studying in Brighton. As a journalist, he interviewed Radovan Karadzic, later convicted by the Hague Tribunal, was familiar with Ratko Mladic, who also could not escape this fate. At the same time, Alexander avoided participating in hostilities, strictly observing journalistic ethics.
Politician
At the same time, a graduate of the University of Belgrade came into politics. His career was simply dizzying. In 1993, he became a member of the Serbian Radical Party, and soon successfully ran for the Serbian parliament. After a couple of years, he led his movement, becoming one of the most promising politicians in the country.
In 1998, Alexander Vucic received the portfolio of the Minister of Information in the government of Yugoslavia. The young minister had a difficult time at his post, since a year later the country was attacked by NATO. As Minister of Information, he signed laws on heavy fines for journalists, and shut down newspapers and radio stations during the bombing.
In 1999, a peace agreement was signed between Yugoslavia and NATO, after which all ministers from the Radical Party resigned. Among them was Alexander Vuchich.
This did not end the political career of a native of Belgrade, he continued to be successfully elected to the deputies of the Union Assembly of Yugoslavia, continued to work actively in the Radical Party.
Power battle
In 2008, due to the conflict between the leaders of the Serbian radical party Tomislav Nikolic and Vojislav Seshel, a split occurred in the ranks of the movement. Alexander Vucic left after Tomislav Nikolic, who announced the construction of a Serbian progressive party.
In 2012, Nikolic won the election as president of Serbia. Leading the country, he decided to clear the way young and resigned as chairman of the Serbian Progressive Party. His place was taken by Vučić, who was unanimously elected leader of the party.
In addition, he received a number of key posts in the supreme authority of Serbia. Alexander became Deputy Prime Minister, responsible for defense, state security and the fight against corruption.
In parallel, he received the portfolio of the Minister of Defense, although he later refused it, focusing on the fight against corruption.
In 2014, Alexander became the Prime Minister of Serbia after the Progressive Party formed a ruling coalition in an alliance with the socialists. In this post, he noted a number of high-profile statements on the Kosovo problem, which were ambiguously received by the Serbs.
Head of state
In 2017, the presidential elections in Serbia were held, in which the leader of the Progressive Party took part. Vučić won and led the country for the next five years. Upon assuming office, he continued his course towards normalizing relations with Kosovo, whose independence Serbia does not recognize. A series of informal meetings took place with the leader of the partially recognized republic, Hashim Thachi, who announced the possibility of reconciliation between the Serbs and Kosovo Albanians.
However, a serious obstacle to the continuation of the negotiation process was the assassination of a Serbian politician in Kosovo. Vučić said that reconciliation is out of the question until a killer is found and convicted.
In foreign policy, Vucic's priority is accession to the European Union. At the same time, given the Serbian people's craving for Russia, he always emphasizes that Serbia will continue to develop friendly relations with Russia, China, and will never join NATO.