Europe Asia News

Serbian lawmakers on Friday passed a law providing faster administrative procedures for Kushner’s company, Affinity Global Development, to build a hotel, apartments, shops, and offices on the site of the former Yugoslav army headquarters.

Many Serbs view the old headquarters, which was damaged in NATO’s 1999 bombing during the Kosovo conflict, as a tribute to the dead and a monument of Yugoslav-era modernist architecture. They opposed the signing of a 99-year lease agreement with Affinity Global Development last year.

Some opposition politicians argued that the law was unconstitutional, but the ruling majority approved it without amendments, saying it was vital for maintaining good relations with the United States.

Despite the protests, the Vučić government had already removed the former army complex’s protected cultural heritage status last November.