EU silent as protests in Serbia gain momentum

Student protests against corruption are growing in Serbia, but EU institutions, for which Vučić’s regime is considered a key partner in the Balkans, have so far refrained from expressing support for the demonstrators.

On Thursday morning, 500 Serbian students set off on foot from Belgrade under the slogan “One step for justice.” After an 80-kilometre march, they reached Novi Sad to join Saturday’s blockade of three bridges over the Danube.

This comes amid an unprecedented wave of protests, with growing calls for strikes and farmers joining the movement, after the roof of the railway station in the major northern Serbian city of Novi Sad – a key stop on the future Belgrade-Budapest high-speed line, central to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure project – collapsed three months ago.

The collapse, which followed a €55 million renovation by a Chinese company announced with great pomp by President Aleksandar Vučić and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, killed 15 people, prompting thousands to stop all activity since the incident every day at 11.52am – the time of the disaster – and observe 15 minutes of silence in honour of the 15 victims.

The country has not seen such a mobilisation since the fall of former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević in 2000, according to the protesters, who denounce government corruption and demand the full disclosure of documents related to the station’s construction, as well as the criminal prosecution of those responsible for the disaster.

“We have no political demands and keep our distance from opposition parties,” said Milica Dokmanović, a student at the University of Novi Sad.

“We simply ask that Serbian institutions work in the interest of citizens.”

President Aleksandar Vučić, the highly authoritarian figure who has ruled Serbia with an iron grip since 2012 and maintains tight control over the country’s media, has so far successfully suppressed any significant protest movement.

After initially accusing the students of being funded by the West and trying to intimidate them, he finally decided to sacrifice his prime minister, Miloš Vučević, who announced his resignation on 28 January.

“The difference between these protests and previous ones is that this time, people who never used to speak out have taken to the streets,” said Naim Leo Beširi, director of the Institute for European Affairs in Belgrade.

Brussels’ embarrassing silence

As Vučić considers the possibility of early elections to resolve the crisis, the Serbian president can at least take comfort in the silence of the EU institutions, especially the European Commission.

While Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has not hesitated to express support for “the Georgian people fighting for democracy”, she has remained remarkably quiet about the uprising in Serbia – a country that has officially been a candidate for EU membership since 2012.

During a recent visit to Belgrade, Gert Jan Koopman, the EU’s Director-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), merely noted Serbia’s “steady progress” towards the EU.

But the Commission’s 2024 progress report explicitly states that the Serbian authorities need to step up their efforts to fight corruption, ensure the independence of the judiciary, and guarantee freedom of expression.

“Commission officials describe a reality that does not exist in Serbia. The Serbian authorities respect neither the rule of law nor the fundamental principles of democracy,” said Srđan Cvijić, the president of the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy.

“If protesters are not waving European flags, it is because the EU is seen as an ally of the government,” Cvijić added.

Mutual interests at play

Serbia occupies a central geopolitical position in the Balkans and is crucial to regional stability, especially as negotiations with Kosovo on “normalisation of relations” theoretically continue.

Although Belgrade condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Serbian government has never aligned itself with EU sanctions against Moscow.

“European leaders fear that if they criticise Vučić, he will turn towards Russia and continue opening his country to Chinese businesses,” Cvijić added.

“This is, of course, a mistake, as Moscow’s ability to influence Serbia is very limited, and Belgrade conducts the vast majority of its economic exchanges with the EU,” he added.

Situated at the crossroads of Southeast Europe’s transport networks, Serbia is also a key partner in managing the thousands of migrants attempting to reach the EU each year. In June 2024, Belgrade signed an agreement with the EU allowing the deployment of the EU border agency Frontex, along Serbia’s borders with Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia.

Serbia also has resources of great interest to European countries, especially Germany and its automotive industry.

On 19 June, Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Belgrade to witness the signing of a “memorandum on critical raw materials” aimed at reviving a major lithium mining project – despite strong opposition from local communities.

[DE]