Serbia’s parliament on Friday approved a law enabling a controversial real estate project in Belgrade led by Affinity Partners, the investment firm founded by U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
The development, valued at around $500 million, would transform the ruins of the former Yugoslav Army headquarters—bombed by NATO forces in 1999—into a luxury hotel and residential complex.
President Aleksandar Vucic, who has cultivated close ties with Trump, backed the project despite protests, legal disputes and criticism that the building, considered by many Serbs a war memorial, should be preserved.
The government last year removed the site’s protected status and signed a 99-year lease with Affinity Partners. The move sparked demonstrations and a probe into alleged forged documents used to justify the status change.
Vucic defended the plan in an interview with the BBC in June, saying it was “important to overcome the burden from 1999” and to improve relations with Washington.
Opposition lawmakers condemned Friday’s vote as unconstitutional. “This is a crime,” said Aleksandar Jovanovic, warning that the site would be replaced with “casinos and Jacuzzis.” Marinika Tepic, a centre-left MP, accused the government of “sacrificing history to please Trump.”
Transparency Serbia, an anti-corruption watchdog, and several architectural experts criticised the process and warned about growing state influence in large-scale property projects.
Reports from Serbian media suggest Trump himself had explored a hotel venture in Belgrade years before his presidency. Kushner told The New York Times in March he was unaware of those earlier plans.
The project’s approval comes as Belgrade seeks to balance relations between Washington and Moscow. Serbia has faced economic fallout from U.S. tariffs and from sanctions on Russian-linked entities operating in the country, including Nafna Industrika Srbije (NIS), its majority Russian-owned oil refinery.