PREUGOVOR ALARM: REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF SERBIA IN CLUSTER 1 May 2025
PREUGOVOR ALARM: REPORT ON THE PROGRESS OF SERBIA IN CLUSTER 1 May 2025

Author(s): Jelena Pejić Nikić
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, EU-Approach / EU-Accession / EU-Development
Published by: BCBP Beogradski centar za bezbednosnu politiku
Keywords: EU integration; PREUGOVOR; Serbia
Summary/Abstract: In the past six months (November 2024 – April 2025), much has changed and stirred in Serbia - but not the reforms tied to its EU integration. The collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy on 1 November 2024 revealed that the consequences of corruption, politicised institutions, and dysfunctional oversight can be fatal and anyone can fall victim. Citizens began to gather spontaneously to pay tribute to the victims and demand accountability. The authorities responded with the usual mechanisms of a captured state - denial of responsibility, distortion and concealment of facts, control over the media, blatant concentration of power and institutional abuse, both covert and overt pressure on the judiciary, a pompous and selective fight against corruption, escalating repression against protestors and all government critics, and the creation of parallel support structures to replace every social group that expressed dissent. Each of these actions only intensified public outrage, and the protests grew increasingly massive, spreading like wildfire across Serbia.

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