Europe must offer Serbia's student-led democratic breakthrough a path to EU membership after previously courting Vučić
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/profile/srdjan-cvijic. "Serbia’s students achieved the impossible. Europe must not fail them now | Srđjan Cvijić | The Guardian." October 29, 2026. www.theguardian.com
The Gist
Serbia's students pulled off something nearly impossible by forcing a long-ruling autocrat to accept defeat, and they did it mostly without help from the EU, which had cozied up to him. Now the hard work of rebuilding institutions begins, and the author argues Europe should make amends by giving Serbia a real path into the union.
Conclusion
Europe must not fail Serbia's students: the EU and its leaders should offer Serbia's newly reborn democracy a credible future within the union, because consolidating that democracy depends on it.
Premises
- Serbia's student-led movement achieved what many thought impossible by forcing Vučić's entrenched authoritarian system to concede electoral defeat peacefully after nearly 15 years of rule.
- This breakthrough came largely despite Brussels, not because of it, since some European leaders tolerated or effectively supported Vučić for years, preferring a predictable strongman to democratic uncertainty.
- Much of Serbia's genuinely pro-European constituency opposed Vučić (two-thirds of EU-supporting Serbians opposed his government), so Brussels sought stability in the wrong place.
- Defeating an autocrat is only an event; dismantling authoritarian institutions (rule of law, free media, depoliticized police and security services) is a long process that remains to be done.
- Serbia's ability to consolidate its democracy relies on a future in Europe, and its geography (in the heart of Europe, close to the EU) means its democratic struggle cannot remain a distant European concern.
- Europe now has an opportunity to regain the trust of those who fought for the democratic values it professes to uphold.
Assumptions
- The prospect of EU membership is a decisive or at least significant factor in whether post-authoritarian democracies consolidate.
- The student-backed victory represents a genuine, durable democratic transition rather than a temporary political shift.
- The EU has the leverage and capacity to influence Serbia's trajectory meaningfully.
- Europe has a moral obligation to support those who fought for the values it professes, and its credibility is at stake.
- Serbia's new leadership will want EU accession and will meet membership criteria.
- Past EU engagement with Vučić was a mistake rather than a defensible pragmatic choice.