Vucic Expected to Keep Grip on Serbian Security Agencies

As former Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic takes over as Serbia's President, experts predict that he will retain full de-facto control over the security services, despite his limited constitutional powers.

Opposition Democratic Party MP Radoslav Milojicic, a member of parliament's Committee for Control of Security Services, told BIRN that Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party will maintain their grip over this sector.

"The first step on this path was changing the law so that [as Prime Minister] he could become national coordinator of all the security services. The main question today is who will succeed him in that post - or whether he continues to perform this function," he said.

Under the law, as President, Vucic will be in charge only of appointing the directors of the military security services, the VBA and VOA.

The Prime Minister's post, however, which Vucic held for five years, afforded complete control over the police, army forces and the intelligence sector.

On May 8, Vucic told Pink TV that there were "several candidates" for the post of head of the security services coordation bureau, and the successful applicant would be "a professional who will take this job seriously".    

But Milojicic claims that any new chief appointees in the security sector will be only "making coffee", accusing Vucic of intending to run the show.

Serbia's security services have had a poor reputation since the days of Slobodan Milosevic, when they became involved in politically driven murders of journalists and politicians as well as in illegal surveillance. Many of these cases are still before the courts.

The Institute for European Affairs, a think tank, has already urged the Serbian parliament to put the...