Miloš Vučević ( sr-Cyrl, Милош Вучевић, ; born 10 December 1974) is a Serbian lawyer and politician serving as

deputy prime minister of Serbia The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia ( sr, Потпредседник Владе Србије / Potpredsednik Vlade Srbije, literally translated as Vice President of the Government of Serbia), is the official Deputy of the Prime Minister of Serb ...

and minister of defence since 2022. A member and vice-president of the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), he served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

from 2012 to 2022.

Early life, education and law career

Vučević was born on 10 December 1974 in

, SAP Vojvodina, SR Serbia,

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

. He finished elementary school in Novi Sad and high school in Bački Petrovac. Vučević graduated from the

Faculty of Law A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In American usage such divisions are generally referred to as colleges ...

, University of Novi Sad, in 1999. He practiced law in the family law office until 2012.

Political career

Vučević started his political career as a member of the

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

Serbian Radical Party (SRS) where his father was a high-ranking member. SRS split later in 2008, and Vučević joined the breakaway Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) led by

Tomislav Nikolić Tomislav Nikolić ( sr-Cyrl, Томислав Николић, ; born 15 February 1952) is a Serbian retired politician who served as the president of Serbia from 2012 to 2017. A former member of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS), he d ...

and Aleksandar Vučić. He is a close associate and confidant of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Aleksandar Vučić and his brother

Andrej Vučić Andrej Vučić ( sr-cyr, Андреј Вучић) is a Serbian businessman and a senior official of the Serbian Progressive Party. He was previously an executive of the Institute for Manufacturing Banknotes and Coins of the National Bank of Serbia ...

. Following the 2012 local elections, Vučević was elected

Mayor of Novi Sad This is a list of mayors of Novi Sad from 1 February 1748, when the city got royal free city status by Maria Theresa of Austria. The Mayor of Novi Sad is the head of the City of Novi Sad (the second largest city in Serbia and the administrat ...

by a new SNS-led majority, even though SNS only won 16.44% of the popular vote. He was a member of the board of directors of the National Alliance for Local Economic Development (NALED) from 2015 to 2016. He was re-elected mayor following the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and 2020 local elections. In November 2021, at the SNS party assembly, he was elected vice president of the party.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence

On 23 October 2022, the president of the Serbian Progressive Party Aleksandar Vučić announced that his party would recommend Miloš Vučević as the next

deputy prime minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

and minister of defence of Serbia. He resigned as the Mayor of the City of Novi Sad on 24 October, and was succeeded by

Milan Đurić Milan Đurić (; born 22 May 1990) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Hellas Verona. Đurić started his professional career at Cesena, before joining Parma in 2010. Later that year, he was loaned to A ...

two days later. Vučević was sworn in as deputy prime minister and minister of defence on 26 October as part of the

third cabinet of Ana Brnabić The third cabinet of Ana Brnabić was formed on 26 October 2022, following the latter's election as prime minister of Serbia by the National Assembly on the same day. It succeeded the second cabinet of Ana Brnabić and is the incumbent government ...

. It has been speculated that Vučević will succeed Vučić as the president of the Serbian Progressive Party following his potential resignation.

Political positions

Foreign policy

Vučević is in favor of Serbia's accession to the European Union, at the same time claiming that Serbia cannot become its member by "being humiliated and ashamed, because then it will never be a good member of the EU". On 24 March 2019, Vučević stated that the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia was a war crime. He opposes sanctioning Russia due to its

2022 invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Kosovo question

Vučević is against the recognition of independence of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, adding that Kosovo is the "state-forming DNA of our people and our country".

Personal life

Vučević's father

Zoran Zoran ( sr-Cyrl, Зоран) is a common South Slavic name, the masculine form of Zora, which means ''dawn, daybreak''. The name is especially common in Serbia, North Macedonia, Croatia and a little in Slovenia. Notable people with this given na ...

was a lawyer and high-ranking member of SRS who served as the president of the City Assembly of Novi Sad from 2004 to 2007. His father died in 2021. Vučević is married and has two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vucevic, Milos 1974 births Living people Mayors of Novi Sad 21st-century Serbian lawyers Members of the National Assembly (Serbia) Serbian Progressive Party politicians University of Novi Sad alumni Serbian Radical Party politicians