Serbia remains stuck in deep political turmoil as the government continues to reject the demands of ongoing mass protests, which have mostly been peaceful. However, over the summer, their calls for an investigation of the tragic canopy collapse at the Novi Sad railway station last November and for snap parliamentary elections were met with increased repression and intimidation by state authorities. This led to several days of violence and clashes between pro- and anti-government supporters in mid-August. The protests, which are primarily led by the student movement, have highlighted the legitimization crisis around the rule of President Aleksandar Vučić whose populist Serbian Progressive party (SNS) has been in power for 13 years. They also indicate a shift in the aspirations of large parts of Serbian society toward greater transparency and more accountability by state institutions – demands that overlap with those of the EU accession process.
This public panel will present fresh polling data from Serbia and discuss what the underlying societal shift means for internal political process and for the country’s EU path. It will also address Serbia’s strategic outlook in the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine and assess the foreign policy challenges for Germany’s federal government as it tries to achieve two objectives: rebuilding a more effective relationship with Belgrade and bringing new momentum into the EU accession process for the entire Western Balkan region.
Speakers:
MP Tilman Kuban, CDU Parliamentary Group’s Spokesperson for EU Affairs, German Bundestag
Raša Nedeljkov, Program Director, Center for Research, Transparency, and Accountability (CRTA)
Milan Nič, Senior Research Fellow, Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, DGAP
Gazela Pudar Draško, Director, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Moderator:
Stefan Meister, Head of the Center for Order and Governance in Eastern Europe, Russia, and Central Asia, DGAP
Please register for the event here: events@dgap.org.
It will be held in English.