Serbia remains immersed in a deep political crisis before the perplexed gaze of the EU caught in the crossfire between the strategic need to keep supporting a candidate country for EU membership, and the realisation that many principles of law here are still very far from European standards.
Protests in Serbia started when 15 people died after the collapse of a shelter at a railway station in the city of Novi Sad. Protesters accuse authorities of corruption and authoritarianism. Despite de resignation of prime minister Miloš Vučević, the movement, led by students, has spread to more than 200 towns.
Serbia´s President Aleksandar Vučić has accused students of leading an “attempted revolution”. He claims that “foreign powers” want to overthrow him and destabilise Serbia. The EU has so far remained discreet.The European Commission has stated it is “backing the rule of law and freedom of assembly.”
Serbia has been a candidate country for EU membership since 2012. Accession negotiations started in 2014. The EU is Serbia´s largest trade partner, largest investor and largest provider of financial assistance. Europe has set aside another €1.586 billion in non-repayable grants and favourable loans for when Serbia carries out more reforms in business, environmental and digital sectors, as well as in the rule of law.
The youth are demanding less corruption and more democracy, transparency, justice, fraternity and accountability. They distrust the country´s political institutions.
“When it comes to the elections, a lot of people don’t even trust those anymore. I just really hope that something will be changed about it soon, because if it’s not, we’ll just sink deeper and deeper and further away from democracy itself.”, says Lena, 20-year-old student in Electrical Engineering.
She attended a huge protest in Niš, Serbia´s third largest city with her friends Staša and Dimitrije. “Not many people look at a country as something that we need to build together, as something that we all need to invest in, and actually care about. (For many people) it’s just something that they need to take money away from. I think that what we’re doing right here is morally the right thing to do at the moment.”
The students are also demanding independent judiciary and equal rights. They have not aligned with any political party or ideology. They refuse to give their family names as their personal situation is unimportant.
“I like to live by my values of honesty and accountability. But in order for my actions to be worthy and to in order for them to have an effect, I think as a collective, we should all abide by them”, says Staša, also a student in Electrical Engineering. “And those leading the country and our people should be the ones showing us the way. We want our knowledge to count for something. And we want our hard work to be appreciated. We want to be judged not by our political views, but by what we are and what we have done”
While Serbian youth have mobilised for justice and anti-corruption demands, the EU is not a concrete reality for many because of the delayed accession process.Some also feel the EU response to their perception of democratic erosion has been weak, and this is fueling an already latent euroscepticism in younger generations, claims Dragana Djurica, expert in Serbia-EU relationships and Secretary General at European Movement Serbia (EminS).
“The generation aged between 45 and 60 are in majority pro EU integration whereas the younger generation shows disregard, disbelief and no interest in becoming members of the EU”, Ms. Djurica says. “ The generation between 45 and 60 was the same age as the youth today, only during the 90s, and they remember very well the times of isolation, the times of sanctions, the times of conflicts in the region. And they do not want to see it happening now.”
Further EU engagements in education, cultural exchanges and funding are key to attract young Serbians tired of the long accession process, now also overshadowed by misinformation campaigns, she claims. “There is a combination of these issues, which is making citizens not aware about what the EU stands for, what the EU brings and what are the obligations of Serbia in this context of European integration process”, says Ms Djurica. “So we hope that the EU is going to take a more firm stand in defending the fundamental values that it represents, and to communicate them properly to the citizens so that they wouldn’t lose this generation”.
Students have vowed to continue the mobilisation until the country adopts a system “that values knowledge and work, not obedience and silence”.
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