Overview
- Lawmakers voted 130–40 for a lex specialis that declares the redevelopment urgent and orders agencies to issue permits without delay.
- The measure allows demolition of the bomb-damaged Yugoslav Army headquarters, a landmark many regard as a memorial and a modernist icon.
- Affinity-linked developers hold a 99-year lease and outline a roughly $500 million hotel, apartments, offices and shops, with a promised bombing memorial.
- Organized-crime prosecutors are investigating alleged forgery in the documents used to strip the site’s protected status, which had stalled the project.
- The government cites economic gains and improved U.S. ties, while watchdogs and heritage experts warn of a dangerous precedent as protesters gather outside parliament.