January 29, 2025

Belgrade, Serbia

Dear President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,
Dear European Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos,
Dear European Union Ambassador to Serbia, Emanuele Giaufret,
Dear European Parliament Rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula,

 

We address you as the officials of the European Union and representatives of European policies and values – the Europe which is also our cultural space and the only politically acceptable community of citizens and nations – with the intent to express deep concern regarding the current political situation in Serbia.

 

At the time of writing, the current regime in Serbia is deeply shaken by student and citizen protests sparked by the deaths of fifteen persons caused by the collapse of the main canopy of the Novi Sad Railway Station – the result of evident corrupt practices. All evidence surrounding the causes of this tragedy points directly to the top state officials. The student protests, the blockade of all state faculties across Serbia, the consequent work strikes, and massive citizen demonstrations send a clear message that the reign of corruption must end once and for all.

 

What additionally concerns us, as citizens of Serbia, and serves as one of the reasons for this letter, is the fact that the continuation of this regime over the years would not have been possible without, unfortunately, the very ambivalent and inconsistent policies of the European Union and member states toward Serbia. In recent years, this often boiled down to open support for the government of Aleksandar Vučić. Namely, Europe—on whose funds and markets much of Serbia’s economy has depended for more than two decades—seems to systematically turn a blind eye to the uncomfortable and fundamentally anti-European nature of Serbia’s current government.

 

Under Vučić’s regime in Serbia, individuals within state structures who dare to openly oppose criminality and corruption are persecuted. Evidence of murders involving public officials is hidden. Police officers who uncover state crimes receive death threats, while those who beat a detainee to death in a police station remain free. Workers are threatened with dismissal if they refuse submission to party directors or participation in regime-sponsored rallies. Activists, students, professors, journalists, and opposition party members are detained, arrested, monitored, and wiretapped, while regime-backed thugs and activists of the Serbian Progressive Party are organized to attack citizens and evade accountability.

 

Nevertheless, Aleksandar Vučić’s government has been publicly supported—or, at best, tolerated—by key actors of European politics, even as it engages in actions that are entirely contrary to basic European values.

 

The complete regime control over media with national frequencies, the paralysis of the judiciary, falsified voter rolls, and even the terrorist attacks in Kosovo carried out by individuals protected by the Serbian state and profiting millions—these issues are treated by the European Union as ephemeral, secondary problems. Shortsightedly, in an attempt to distance Serbia from Russian influence, Europe offers a geopolitical embrace to a duplicitous and dangerous regime led by a criminal leader who publicly threatens his own citizens with paramilitary formations of pro-Russian extremists sworn to defend his rule with blood.

 

Amid great global upheavals, Europe—its political actors and public—must unequivocally recognize that Serbia under Aleksandar Vučić’s rule is a security risk, a dangerous territory where European indifference, persistent Russian influence, and organized crime converge to uphold an openly criminal regime. This regime, based on all available political analysis, poses a serious threat not only to the fundamental rights of Serbian citizens but also to regional and European stability and security.

 

This is further evidenced by many threats directed at EU citizens on Serbian soil, including the recent abuse by Serbian police of citizens from Croatia, Slovenia, Romania, North Macedonia, and Albania, who were deported from Serbia without any legal basis. The regime, now facing a serious crisis, is actively working to create potential conflicts in the region, fostering nationalist hostility and paranoid narratives about “foreign agents.”

 

At this moment, the citizens of Serbia are fighting for the same values at the foundation of the European Union: the values of anti-fascist Europe, which remembers regimes of blackshirts, propaganda-driven party media, pervasive corruption, regimes that threaten, plunder, and destroy, leaving behind ruins and the dead.

 

We call upon you, as esteemed representatives of the European Union, to take an active role in supporting a free, democratic, and European Serbia. We urge you to present to the European public and institutions the necessity for a clear and responsible EU policy toward our country, with an unequivocal focus on supporting democratic processes, combating corruption, advocating for media freedom, and rebuilding an independent judiciary, which has been entirely dismantled for over a decade.

 

In the hope that you will consider this letter with due attention and that its content and message will reach the citizens of the European Union—who have the right and obligation to know what is happening in their immediate neighbourhood—we extend our sincere regards.

 

Sincerely,

 

Dejan Atanacković, writer and activist

Ivan Lalić, playwright

Aida Ćorović, art historian and activist

Goran Marković, film director

Milica Čubrilo Filipović, journalist

Dušan Petričić, artist

Rade Radovanović, journalist and writer

Irina Subotić, art historian

Mirjana Đurđević, writer

Dušan Teodorović, academician

Marko Šelić Marčelo, musician and writer

Dubravka Stojanović, professor at the University of Belgrade

Biljana Stojković, professor at the University of Belgrade

Bane Trifunović, actor

Vesna Rakić Vodinelić, professor at the University of Belgrade

Prof. Dr. Vladimir V. Vodinelić, professor at the University of Belgrade

Ljubodrag Stojadinović, journalist and writer

Petar Peca Popović, journalist

Biljana Vilimon, painter

Nenad Kulačin, journalist and columnist

Marko Vidojković, writer

Kokan Mladenović, theatre director

Dr. Tatjana Verbić, associate professor at the University of Belgrade

Stevan Filipović, director

Novi Nebojša Milenković, art historian and writer

Marija Srdić, activist

Jelena Stupljanin, actress

Bojan Dimitrijević, actor

Nenad Kostić, academician

Dr. Zoran Radovanović, professor emeritus at the University of Belgrade

Nebojša Romčević, dramaturge

Vesna Pešić, sociologist and politician

Ana Kotevska, musicologist

Biljana Stepanović, journalist

Dubravka Marković, journalist

Tamara Džamonja Ignjatović, Associate Professor at the University of Belgrade

Jelisaveta Tatić Čuturilo, scenographer

Tamara Tripić, DD Mreža

Ana Hegediš Lalić, journalist

Dinko Gruhonjić, professor and journalist

Maja Lalić, architect

Marko Lađušić, artist and professor

Ljubiša Jovanović, professor

Jelica Minić, president of the European Movement

Jelka Jovanović, journalist

Aleksandar Baucal, professor

Zoran Hamović, publisher

Dragan Velikić, writer

Aleksandra Bosnić Djuric, culturologist

Srdan Golubović, film director