Serbian minister resigns after train station collapse – POLITICO

The train station in Novi Sad, 100 kilometers northwest of Belgrade, has had to be renovated twice in recent years, with critics blaming shoddy work on widespread corruption and a lack of transparency. The renovations were part of a wider agreement with Chinese construction firms.

After announcing his resignation at the conference on Monday, Vesić reviewed the timeline in which documents on the design and reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad were published, noting that only the final design was presented by the responsible firms during his tenure. He added that it has not yet been approved by the ministry.

He claimed that his predecessors and the construction companies involved were responsible for the accident, and warned members of his own party who criticized him but refused to take any blame: “I have always been honored and will do my best to show in the coming period how much they do not have it.”

Opposition politicians were quick to criticize him. “Goran Vesić is one of the people most responsible for the massive corruption in the construction industry and the policy of secret contracts with investors, and this now leaves behind human victims,” ​​said Radomir Lazović, co-chairman of the opposition party Green-Left Front. in question.

He calls for the opening of “all secret contracts with Chinese contractors that have become the rule” and for the inspection of all work done under Vučić’s management in recent years.

Vesić did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment. His resignation is an unusual move for a member of the country’s populist government, who refused to back down in previous elections. protests.

The station, first built and renovated in 1964, was opened in 2022 by President Aleksandar Vučić and his ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as an important stop on the high-speed train route connecting Belgrade and Budapest.