The Serbian Assembly has voted to dismiss the Minister of Economy Rade Basta, during a session held on 11 July.

As a minister in the Serbian government, Basta has advocated for imposing sanctions on Russia, stating that Serbia is paying a high price by not imposing sanctions on Moscow.

Serbia is one of the few countries in Europe that has not yet sanctioned Russia due to its occupation of Ukraine.

At the end of June, Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić proposed to the Parliament to dismiss the minister.

Basta was appointed Minister of Economy as a member of the coalition of the Socialist Party of Serbia, led by the Foreign Minister, Ivica Dačić. The United Serbia party is also part of this coalition.

On 20 June, Basta announced that he had registered the movement European Road (PEP) and said that this movement would soon be transformed into a party and would run in elections at all levels.

On the same day, the leader of the United Serbia, Dragan Marković Palma, stated that Basta had been given a deadline to resign from all party positions. He said that the request for Basta’s dismissal had also been sent to the government.