The legislation, sent to Serbia’s parliament for debate starting Tuesday, is designed to benefit the $500 million plan by Kushner’s Affinity Partners to build a Trump Tower hotel and luxury residences in downtown Belgrade.
The Progressive Party, which holds a majority in the assembly, wants the project declared a national priority that’s important for “overall economic development,” according to a draft published on the parliament’s website Sunday.
Vucic’s party is seeking to fast-track the project as he faces almost a year of anti-government protests and as US sanctions on refiner NIS AD Novi Sad, imposed because of its Russian ownership, threaten a fuel crisis.
Vucic recently urged the US to give Serbia more time to resolve Gazprom PJSC’s control of NIS. Russia is refusing to exit NIS as the US sanctions begin to bite, and Serbia also still relies on Gazprom for gas imports.
The legislation would override most Serbian regulations on city planning, construction and real estate and oblige authorities to issue permits to facilitate clearing the proposed site — a former Yugoslav Army headquarters damaged in a 1999 NATO bombing during the Kosovo war.
Kushner’s project was first announced in 2024 and soon ran into local opposition as many Serbs object to a US developer rebuilding a historic part of the capital targeted in the US-led bombing by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Preliminary designs by Affinity Partners envisage at least two skyscrapers.
Cultural heritage officials gave the former army headquarters a protected status and demanded its restoration. A pending investigation is seeking to establish whether forged documents were used to remove historic protection for the damaged buildings. Serbian authorities last year gave the developer a 99-year lease for the site.
Vucic has long supported the project, describing the damaged buildings as an eyesore. In June, Europe’s top cultural heritage organization called for preservation and reconstruction of the bombed buildings.
By Misha Savic
