Vucic in Pancevo promises Timisoara motorway, Danube bridge
At a United Serbia rally, Vucic announced a Belgrade-Vrsac-Timisoara motorway, the Banat railway and a Danube bridge, with the railway priced at about 2 billion euros.
Aleksandar Vucic, who heads the “Aleksandar Vucic - United Serbia” list, promised on Wednesday, October 7, at a rally on the main square in Pancevo to build a motorway from Belgrade through Pancevo and Vrsac to Timisoara, along with a Danube bridge between Bela Crkva and Veliko Gradiste. The same speech announced the Banat railway, a pledge to remove politics from schools and universities if he becomes prime minister, and a fresh invitation to Ilija Srdanovic of the Student List to debate him.
Sources estimate the crowd differently. The portal eVrsac reports about 11,000 people, B92 writes of “thousands of citizens,” and Kurir says only that many people attended. The reports we reviewed contain no independent estimate. The rally is part of the campaign ahead of the October 25 election, and Pancevo follows Valjevo, which we covered earlier.
What did Vucic promise South Banat?
The biggest promise is the motorway. Vucic said he “recently” spoke with the Romanian president about linking Belgrade and Timisoara and that they “agreed to start working” on the road. Serbia would build the Belgrade-Pancevo-Vrsac section up to the border. He put the cost at 1.5 to 2 billion euros for a road 90 to 100 kilometers long.
“You know I am committed to building roads, and I promise you we will build this Belgrade-Vrsac road,” Vucic said from the stage, adding that the motorway would bring tourism, fewer trucks through town centers and cleaner air.
The second project is the Banat railway: a Pancevo-Zrenjanin-Kikinda route with a link toward Subotica and, “when we have the money,” a Subotica-Sombor-Bogojevo section. Sources disagree on the price. Kurir and eVrsac report that the railway will cost 2 billion euros, while B92 puts it at roughly 1.5 to 2 billion euros.
The third is a bridge near Bela Crkva. Vucic described it this way:
“I want to connect eastern Serbia with Vojvodina, to build a bridge over the Danube. The Danube is widest and most beautiful between two Serbian banks, Bela Crkva and Veliko Gradiste, it is widest and most beautiful there, and if we connect that with a bridge then we have solved the biggest problem for South Banat, those municipalities become a tourist Mecca and Medina and these are big things.”
The parts of the speech relayed by the sources give no deadline for starting work on the road, the railway or the bridge. On the railway toward Budapest, Vucic said he believes it will open by the end of October or at the latest in early November.
Investors, sewage and an MRI scanner
Speaking about Pancevo, Vucic recalled two investors: “When we had the biggest problems, we managed to secure the two biggest investors, CTP and Brose.” According to him, CTP employs 1,280 workers and Brose more than 700. Sewage projects are also under way in villages and neighborhoods of Pancevo.
Separately, he raised the case of the Pancevo General Hospital, which still has no MRI scanner. He said he ordered the purchase a year ago, and then the matter “stalled somewhere” in the Provincial Government because “some provincial secretary said: not there now, but somewhere else.” Vrsac has the machine, Pancevo does not.
“Pancevo is the 8th largest city in Serbia, how is it possible that it has no MRI scanner,” Vucic said, then added that although it is not his fault, he is ready to say “I am to blame,” because the decisions were made by people elected with votes he won. The reports from the rally do not mention the Provincial Government as having responded.
Politics out of schools and universities
The sharpest part of the speech concerned education. Vucic announced what follows if he wins the voters’ trust:
“If I get your trust and become prime minister, that is over. Politics out of schools, politics out of universities.”
Earlier he said: “They ruined our schools and universities, they turned them into municipal committees of political parties.” The reports do not explain what removing politics from institutions would mean in practice or which regulation would carry it out.
What did he say to his opponents?
He also renewed his invitation to the Student List. “He will not debate me for the life of him, I call this Srdanovic, I call him every day for a debate - he won’t, he won’t and he won’t,” Vucic said. The sources contain no reaction from Srdanovic or the Student List.
On foreign money, Vucic said “one billion 300 million euros” was given through non-governmental organizations “for dirty propaganda machines.” B92 also reports that he added “5 billion for Nova S, N1.” What those figures are based on was not stated.
He closed by urging calm and predicting a more convincing win:
“Hard election, we are fighting against too great a force, from outside as well, a lot of money has reached them, broad organizations from the region, the triple coalition of Djukanovic, Kurti, Plenkovic, they are all well connected and everything they do, they do against this country.”
Vucic addressed his final message to the crowd: “All the textbooks will tell how, and against how great a force, we managed to defend ourselves and raise Serbia again like a phoenix from the ashes.” Until the October 25 election, the list continues touring cities, and the Pancevo pledges, from the motorway to the bridge, remain without a deadline and without a named source of funding.
