Serbian Journalists Protest Delay to Minister's Sacking

The Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia, NUNS, announced a protest for Monday under the slogan "Female journalists do not kneel/PM keep the promise", urging Vucic to fire Gasic immediately.

"There is no justification for the delay to the Defence Minister's dismissal, which only serves to excuse his actions and postpone or completely remove [the sacking] from the agenda," NUNS said in a statement.

Gasic made the sexist comment to Zlatija Labovic, a journalist from TV B92, during a visit to a factory in Trstenik on December 6.

After Labovic crouched down to get out of her camera operator's shot, Gasic said: "I love female journalists who get down on their knees easily."

The day after the incident, Vucic said that Gasic could no longer remain in the government because his "reckless" comment.

However, the premier still has not submitted a proposal for the removal of Gasic to the National Assembly.

Vucic said last Thursday that he will sack Gasic when he finds an adequate replacement - which, he insisted, was a difficult task.

"If you think we can find a minister in a kafana [tavern] in a day, that is so ridiculous? Why is it so important to dismiss him after three or 10 days?" Vucic asked on Palma TV.

But Dejan Milenkovic, a public administration expert and a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science in Belgrade, told BIRN that there is no reason for delaying Gasic's sacking.

"The ministry can function without the minister, because state secretaries can cover his work? that is common practice in this type of case," Milenkovic said.

"The point is that the political responsibility is down to Vucic... He announced he would sack him, so it is down to him to make a final decision," he added.