On the occasion of Europe Day, the National Convention on the European Union recalls that Serbia’s European path cannot be sustainable without genuine democratisation of society and the restoration of citizens’ trust in institutions. The European Union is not merely a foreign policy orientation, a logo, or a flag; it is a system of values and rules implemented in the interest of citizens.
The current geopolitical moment, the European Union’s evolving approach to enlargement policy, and the accelerated pace of accession processes for candidate countries represent a historic opportunity for states willing to undertake substantial democratic reforms. However, instead of seizing this opportunity, Serbia continues to stagnate, and in some areas even regress, while the reform process is reduced to declarative commitment to the European path, without genuine political will to fulfil the obligations arising from it.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the objective of the ruling elites is for Serbia to remain permanently in candidate status: close enough to the European Union to benefit from the political and economic advantages of the accession process, yet without any real intention to build institutions grounded in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic accountability.
Substantive reforms are not a matter of political bargaining, but a fundamental test of political will. If such will genuinely existed, there would be no negotiations over the implementation of the recommendations of the Venice Commission, the independence and legality of the work of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM), the improvement of electoral conditions, media freedom, or the functioning of institutions. These processes would not be treated as concessions to the opposition, civil society, or the European Commission, but as obligations of the state towards its own citizens and towards the standards it has itself accepted.
Particularly concerning is the growing practice of using the European integration process as a formal framework for simulating reforms, while simultaneously narrowing the space for public debate, undermining participatory mechanisms, and hollowing out social dialogue. By its very nature, the European integration process requires transparency, inclusiveness, and institutional accountability, precisely the principles that are increasingly absent today. As a result, Serbia marks this Europe Day further from the European Union than ever, at the very moment when the European Union is demonstrating its greatest readiness for enlargement in the past thirteen years.
