Support among Serbs for EU membership drops sharply

Only about one third of Serbs still want EU membership, with experts pointing to causes both in Belgrade and in Brussels

Serbia, which has been stuck in the European Union’s waiting room for integration for 14 years, is now being overtaken on the road to Brussels by neighboring Montenegro and Albania. The endless wait appears to have increased frustration among Serbs toward the EU. A survey published in recent days in Belgrade shows that only about one third of Serbs still want to join the European bloc.

The survey, conducted by the Center for Contemporary Policy (CSP), concludes that only 36 percent of the population is in favor of EU membership. Support for the EU is even declining rapidly. About 15 years ago, 70 percent of Serbs supported accession. The figure fell in the years that followed, but remained above 50 percent.

According to CSP, there is also a noticeable increase in the percentage of respondents who openly reject EU membership. At 33 percent, they are now almost as numerous as those in favor.

The survey results have sparked debate in Serbia over who is responsible for the crisis of trust toward the EU: an authoritarian government that regularly fuels anti Western sentiment through media close to it, or EU member states that have blocked the Western Balkans’ accession process for years?

Serbian expert on European affairs from Belgrade, Bojana Selaković, is convinced that both sides bear responsibility.

“The government of Aleksandar Vučić has not officially abandoned EU membership, but in reality, accession has never been its goal,” says Selaković, coordinator of the Serbian civic platform “National Convention on the European Union.”

Selaković adds that for the EU as well, this indefinite waiting period seemed like an acceptable status quo for years.

Serbia’s relationship with Brussels was like an “open marriage,” Selaković compares, during a time when Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was building close ties with China and Russia. The expert criticizes Brussels for often turning a blind eye to election manipulation or measures against the press and the opposition. In return, Belgrade ensured a tense calm in the region. Critics of the EU have long described Brussels’ stance as support for “stabilocracy.”

The EU remains most popular among young people. For Selaković, “they are the only generation that perceives the EU as a natural instrument for life opportunities: mobility, open borders, education, access to the labor market, and legal security.”

For more than a year, Serbia has been in a state of political emergency. After the disaster at the Novi Sad train station on November 1, 2024, in which 16 people died, weekly protests took place. Vučić has announced early parliamentary elections for this year, one of many demands by protesting students.

It was the protests that brought the EU’s attention back more forcefully to Serbia’s government, due to allegations of violence against demonstrators and journalists.

Diplomats in Brussels are pressing for reforms, both regarding the rule of law and the normalization of relations with Kosova. But according to Selaković, this shift by Brussels is coming far too late.

“The damage has already been done. The European agenda has lost credibility in Serbia, while the government has been able to consolidate its power without any real constraints,” Selaković concludes. /DW/