The EU’s limitations and new short-sightedness regarding Belgrade

The European Union has enthusiastically welcomed the victory of the Students’ List in Sunday’s parliamentary elections in Serbia. A movement founded two years ago to challenge Aleksandar Vučić’s corruption has succeeded in overthrowing a decade-long regime. “The Serbian people have turned out in record numbers to shape the future of their country”, said Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, congratulating the Students’ List: “We stand ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom, the fight against corruption and strong democratic institutions, and to work together to promote Serbia’s future within the EU”. The Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, added that “a new chapter may be opening for Serbia. The door to the EU is open and we are ready to move forward together”. Will the new authorities in Belgrade heed this call? It is doubtful, and not only because the Students’ List has not expressed a position on Serbia’s accession to the EU. Brussels hopes to put all of Vučić’s ambiguities behind it; he has aligned his country more closely with Russia than with the EU, rejecting sanctions over the war in Ukraine and the reforms needed to advance the enlargement process, whilst fuelling nationalist poison to destabilise Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. But in its dealings with the student-led government, the EU risks paying the price for a decade of appeasement towards Vučić. The young people, who have taken to the streets to protest against the regime ever since the tragedy at Novi Sad station in November 2024, had sought the EU’s support. At best, von der Leyen’s Commission responded with an eloquent silence. At worst, it expressed support for Vučić to prevent Belgrade’s strongman from drawing even closer to Vladimir Putin. A student-led government may not be so keen to embrace an EU that has for years betrayed the cause of democracy in Serbia.