EditSerbia’s breaking point: why Europe must stop indulging Vučić
Once the authoritarian barrier is removed, Serbia can quickly return to the path of reform and integration into the EU
For years, European leaders have treated Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić as a pillar of “stability” in the Western Balkans. This view is not only misguided – it is dangerously wrong, writes Duško Lopandić.
Professor Duško Lopandić is Vice-Chair of Serbia Center Party and a Former ambassador of Serbia to the EU. He contributed this op-ed exclusively to EUalive.
The model of “stabilitocracy” in Serbia has collapsed. Serbia is trapped in its deepest political crisis in decades. The turning point came on 1 November 2024, when a railway station collapsed in Novi Sad, killing 16 people – a tragedy rooted in corruption. For the past ten months, hundreds of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets to protest corruption, electoral manipulation, and the erosion of fundamental freedoms. According to police data, there have been over 23,000 protest gatherings – culminating in March with a demonstration in Belgrade of nearly half a million people, the largest in Serbia’s modern history. These protests are not simply a reaction to isolated scandals; they reflect a society that has fundamentally changed.
Vučić’s response has been consistent: reject compromise and tighten control. His oscillation between conciliatory and hostile tones cannot hide the authoritarian reality. Repression has escalated dramatically. On 15 March, when 300,000 citizens filled the streets, police used a sonic weapon against peaceful demonstrators, endangering thousands. It was also the beginning of systematic police brutality: plainclothes officers without identification, ruling-party loyalists and criminals attacking protesters under police protection, and security units designed to protect officials now deployed for illegal arrests.
A symbol of the repression and unreasonable governance pursued by Vučić is the fact that one of the greatest champions in the history of world sport, Novak Djokovic, has abandoned organizing tennis tournaments in Belgrade, while the globally renowned music festival EXIT has left Serbia. Instead, the government insists on the mega-corrupt project known as EXPO, for which purpose work on numerous other projects in the country has been halted.
The implications of this crisis extend beyond Serbia’s borders. Far from being a guarantor of peace, Vučić’s transactional foreign policy fuels instability across the Western Balkans. His oscillation between Brussels, Washington, Moscow, and Beijing has left the region vulnerable to renewed tensions. His growing alignment with Moscow – reflected both in foreign policy positions and in domestic propaganda – undermines Serbia’s European trajectory and strains relations with the EU. At a time when the EU seeks unity in confronting Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, Belgrade’s refusal to align with the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy is more than a nuisance – it is a strategic liability.
Autocracy and European integration are fundamentally incompatible. The EU’s enlargement process is built on democratic standards: rule of law, free media, fair elections, and accountable governance. Vučić’s Serbia violates all these principles. The accession negotiations have been effectively frozen for years.
There is no alternative to the EU for Serbia. But Vučić’s regime certainly has alternatives – to remain entrenched in power through manipulation, to deepen ties with Russia and China, and to exploit the EU’s willingness to look the other way. The longer Brussels indulges this façade of stability, the harder it becomes to rebuild credibility with the citizens of Serbia, especially with the younger generation that increasingly doubts whether Europe is serious about its own values. Serbia’s citizens no longer accept the false promise of stability through authoritarian rule.
The democratic alternative in Serbia can only emerge through democratic means. That requires conditions for free and fair elections – conditions impossible under the current system of captured institutions and state-controlled media. The opposition has proposed a transitional framework, including a short-term caretaker government, to prepare credible elections. This is not a radical demand but a necessary step to break the vicious cycle of authoritarianism.
What must change is Europe’s approach. The European Union must decide whether it stands by its own principles. “Business as usual” with Vučić cannot continue. The European Union must step up. It must act as observer, mediator, and guarantor. It must defend free media. It must apply targeted sanctions, starting with police officers responsible for brutality, then moving up to political representatives. A pro-active EU policy should include:
- Restricting political contacts with the regime to crisis management only, sending a clear signal that legitimacy comes from democracy, not autocracy.
- Conditioning EU funds more strictly, ensuring they do not fuel corruption but instead support genuine reforms and civil society.
- Engaging in political mediation to facilitate the organization of free and fair elections within months, not years.
Such measures would not be interference – they would be an investment in the democratic future of a candidate country whose citizens still want to belong to the European family.
There are already concrete plans for the “day after.” Opposition forces and civil society have developed programs for rebuilding institutions, restoring the rule of law, and reorienting foreign policy firmly toward the EU. Once the authoritarian barrier is removed, Serbia can quickly return to the path of reform and integration into the EU.
Europe faces a choice: it can continue to endorse a false stability propped up by authoritarianism, or it can help usher in genuine stability rooted in democracy. The protests in Serbia show that citizens have already made their choice. It is time for Brussels to do the same.
Caption: (L-R) European Council President Antonio Costa, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meet at the EU Council in Brussels, Belgium, 25 March 2025. EPA/OLIVIER MATTHYS
Updated: September 16, 2025 - 06:10
