Third on the “Aleksandar Vučić – United Serbia” list, Ana Brnabić, did not begin her opening statement in the N1 debate by answering N1 journalist’s question about “whether the reason for participating in our debate, given that she has not appeared as a guest since 2017, is that the SNS approval rating has fallen.” Instead, she made accusations against N1, as well as against her debate opponent, Rector of the University of Arts in Belgrade Mirjana Nikolić, who is on the “Students’ List – Students Win” electoral list. She repeatedly criticized Nikolić for not shaking her hand when she entered the studio. When the discussion finally turned to the topic of the debate – education – Nikolić, speaking as a professor, told Brnabić that she had failed the exam on that subject. Brnabić responded: “You are insulting me.”
The N1 journalist opened the debate by asking Brnabić why she had now agreed to appear on the program, given that she had not been a guest since 2017, while SNS representatives and government officials had previously also been invited to appear on the program during election cycles. In addition, the journalist asked whether the reason might be that there has been public discussion about the Serbian Progressive Party’s approval rating declining.
Brnabić did not answer the question, even though the journalist asked it several times. Instead, she made accusations against the television station.
“N1 did not allow our list, during previous election periods, even to pay for airtime in the election program to broadcast campaign spots. That’s how objective you were. On the other hand, I haven’t been on N1 since 2017. I wasn’t happy to come even now, considering how much your television station has engaged in dehumanizing my friend, my president. You engaged in criminalizing him…. On N1, I could hear that he was the product of a snake’s nest,” Brnabić said.
When the N1 journalist insisted that Brnabić answer the question, the Serbian Progressive Party representative declined to do so.
“I heard three years of lies about Jovanjica, about Sarajevo Safari, that a young man in Valjevo died because of police brutality, we heard lies about the sonic cannon. Unlike the Students’ List, we have always invited N1 to all our events. The Students’ List only talks to media outlets that support it. I came because Aleksandar Vučić insisted, you changed owners, the man said, let’s give them a chance, let people see how impartial you are,” Brnabić said.
Brnabić used terms such as “blockaders” and “ćaci,” prompting the N1 journalist and Nikolić to ask that such terms not be used in the studio or during the debate, after which Brnabić began using the term “Students’ List.” She also mentioned that Nikolić had refused to shake her hand, commenting, “That’s this cultured Serbia.”
Nikolić told Brnabić that “cultured Serbia is yet to come.”
“You have taken several things out of context in everything you have repeated. Cultured Serbia can still come. I would like us to be responsible toward the citizens, to tell them what the Students’ List and the list you represent plan to do,” she said.
Nikolić explained why she had decided to participate in the N1 debate.
“I thought about whether this was the right opportunity and the right moment to participate in such a debate. The main reason is that the invitation came from a media outlet through regular channels. I didn’t know whether the format would allow the other side to appear as well. But I was afraid because lately it has often been uncomfortable to participate in discussions when someone is in a position of power. Brnabić has a better starting position in terms of control over information. The second reason for my hesitation is related to our two meetings at the parliamentary Education Committee, where that atmosphere of shouting, banging on tables and humiliating speakers represents a danger,” she pointed out.
During the debate, Ana Brnabić said that Rector Mirjana Nikolić had participated from 2017 to 2020 as one of the experts in the Ministry of Education’s working group for developing the education strategy through 2030.
“We had events together in 2020, when we jointly promoted a multidisciplinary program, the first program of its kind in higher education in Serbia.”
Commenting on the figures presented by Ana Brnabić, Rector Nikolić said that Brnabić was attempting to mislead citizens.
“And to show, through figures, how successful your mandate and the party you belong to and whose list you are on have been. So, I simply think that the media cannot tolerate too many numbers and that we will not prove things with numbers. I would ask our teachers in primary and secondary schools and at universities – do they live better on the money they receive, which you say is higher?
“We can now try to convince them that they have higher salaries, this much or that many percent, but they know what they can buy with that money. And what could they buy five, seven, ten years ago? Twelve years? Fifteen years? So, that is a fact, a fact we need to talk about. Data means nothing if we do not have a frame of reference for comparison. How many kilograms of meat could a secondary school teacher buy with their salary in 2012, and how many can they buy today? How many pairs of shoes at an average price could they buy?” Rector Nikolić asked.
Responding to the mention of their meetings, the rector asked Brnabić, referring to 2022, what was happening with the loan for the major project to construct new faculties: the Faculty of Biology, the Faculty of Geography and the Faculty of Music.
“The Government of Serbia, you will remember, took out a €165 million loan and, among other things, we publicly promoted the project for the Faculty of Music and the renovation of the Faculty of Applied Arts. Of all that, only the Botanical Garden, as one small segment of the Faculty of Biology, has been completed. What is happening with that loan, for which the citizens of Serbia pay one percent interest every year? Where is that money?” she asked.
She also addressed Brnabić’s claims about employing researchers.
“So, at a time when there was a ban on hiring in the public sector, you once again found a ‘good way’ to bypass the system and hire researchers. It was prohibited at the time. You organized a major event, a promotion, a promotion of the success of 1,000 researchers. But this was not a sincere desire to improve research infrastructure, because our country is far below the European level in terms of the number of researchers, and therefore, simply to meet the figures and European averages, you created a researcher program. That is good for our young people, but it is not a sincere desire, it is not a sincere desire to improve it, as the subsequent actions of the government and governments will show, especially over the previous three years,” Nikolić said.
Ana Brnabić responded:
“It is terrible when you hear that employing 1,000 young researchers and doctoral students through projects is actually not good and is not a sincere desire.”
Regarding the aforementioned loan, she said that they were continuing with design and planning.
“No, no, no, it is not being repaid… We took out the loan if it is necessary to build those buildings,” Brnabić said at one point regarding the loan.
Brnabić then said that the Ložionica had been built as part of that loan.
“The fact that you were given the right to manage the state budget does not mean that you are above the people, that you built it, that you have the right to decide,” Nikolić responded.
On education: Brnabić says she is proud of what the SNS has done
Asked about the very topic of the debate, Ana Brnabić said that she was “proud of everything the Serbian Progressive Party has done in the field of education.”
“I am the only prime minister who, in 2017, singled out digitalization and education as priorities in my inaugural address, and at that moment everyone laughed except Aleksandar Vučić, who gave his support,” she said.
She then cited salary figures. Among other things, she said that “a teacher’s salary in 2012 was 391 euros, while in December 2026 it will be 1,030 euros.”
“So, that is from 391 to 1,030 euros, that is a salary 2.6 times higher. The salaries of university professors in 2012 were around 77,000 dinars, while in December 2026 they will be 191,000 dinars. That is 2.5 times higher. These are all things we did for the dignity of teachers, a better standard of living for teachers, and to thank them in every possible way for everything they do. The education budget increased from 140 billion dinars in 2012 to 425 billion dinars in 2026. That is more than three times the education budget,” Brnabić said.
She said that in 2011, the share of children enrolled in preschool education was 48 percent, while in 2025 it was 64 percent, adding that they wanted to raise it above 80 percent.
Brnabić said she was “proud that they built four science and technology parks and three new scientific institutes.”
“We started a program for employing young scientists and doctoral students in 2018, and that year we employed more than 1,000 young scientists on projects, and around 100 every year thereafter; we introduced programming as a compulsory subject from the fifth grade of primary school; we invested more than 60 million euros to introduce high-speed wireless internet into all schools, including the most remote schools across Serbia. These are just some of the things we have done,” Brnabić said.
Nikolić: Education is the beginning and foundation of every normal society
Rector Mirjana Nikolić emphasized that “education is the beginning and foundation of every normal society” and that society expects education in the future, from primary to higher education, to be the engine and driving force of the entire society.
“We want dignity, expertise and security, and within this complex of ideas that are absolutely prevailing throughout this entire process, we also advocate for free education. We advocate for free education, not as a phrase and a populist idea of ‘free textbooks’ and the like, but truly free education, with everything that entails,” Rector Nikolić said.
Nikolić said they wanted equal opportunities for all participants in the education process.
“So, whether we are talking about students or professors, teachers, and all the support staff in schools and at universities who help make education possible. And finally, what is very important to us is modernization, in all segments, from study and school programs to approaches, methodology, curricula and everything else. We are now talking mostly about free textbooks, and at first glance this looks like an excellent measure. It is an excellent measure, but we also have to look a little into the future. Perhaps in the future, with modernization, we will have the possibility of having free textbooks on our children’s tablets, which they will practically use in that way,” Nikolić added.
She said that we must nurture “these wonderful people who will build our children’s values and turn them into young people who think critically, and who do not make decisions solely on the basis of information they happen to receive on social media, but who reflect and arrive at comprehensive answers to questions about everything that troubles them and about which they need to make decisions.”
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Source: N1, Foto: N1
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