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. This is the main conclusion of the new prEUgovor Alarm Report.
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.
Citizens have seen through the mechanisms of state capture - which we have documented in previous Alarm reports - and have clearly risen in opposition. The protests have been led by university students in Serbia, who have been blocking their faculties since late 2024, demanding that institutions fulfill their duties.
Subsequent actions by officials and institutions only expanded the list of demands—none of which have been fully met. It took the prosecutor’s office twenty days to make the first arrests related to the canopy collapse. Prime Minister Miloš Vučević resigned at the end of January, but the National Assembly took fifty days to acknowledge his resignation and only elected a new government in mid-April. The continuity of this new cabinet is evident in the fact that parts of the previous Prime Minister’s exposé were repeated verbatim.
Nothing has changed in the government’s approach to the reforms it committed to under the EU accession negotiations and the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. Both the previous and the new government continue to promise full fulfilment of all benchmarks by the end of 2026, yet none of their actions justify such optimism—quite the opposite.
Although the European Commission and the Serbian government focused on implementing the priority measures from the Reform Agenda adopted in October 2024, even this process faced significant delays. By the end of April, very little had been done in the “Fundamentals” cluster—and what was done was largely inadequate. Civil society expressed dissatisfaction with the action plans on anti-corruption and gender-based violence. Disappointed, representatives of the opposition and relevant organisations withdrew from the Working Group on Electoral Reform.
While most measures in the Reform Agenda require civil society participation, many associations have suspended cooperation with authorities since February. The selection process for members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) Council revealed the futility of a simulated process, prompting independent nominees to withdraw. Under pressure from students who physically blocked the building of Radio Television of Serbia in April, the relevant parliamentary committee eventually annulled the process and re-launched the call. Of all the measures with deadlines set for the end of 2024, only the introduction of visas for four countries was actually implemented.
Pro-European citizens in Serbia were frustrated by the delayed and mild response of European Union representatives to developments in the country. During visits to Belgrade in April and May 2025, EU officials began to more clearly align the demands of Serbian students and citizens with the core values of the EU—namely, respect for the rule of law, democracy, separation of powers, fundamental rights and freedoms, and the fight against corruption. The European Parliament’s report presented the country’s critical situation skillfully, concisely, and comprehensively. In the meantime, students brought their demands to Strasbourg and Brussels.
The coalition calls on EU institutions and officials to improve communication with Serbian citizens, deliver consistent messages, and respond more decisively to alarming developments and the lack of reforms in the country.
This publication is part of the project financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Italian Republic. The content of this publication represents the views of its authors and in no way represents the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.