A Year After the Novi Sad Tragedy
A Year After Novi Sad: Serbia’s Struggle for Justice and Democracy Faces Growing Repression
The European Left expresses its full solidarity with the people of Serbia who, on 1 November 2025, mark one year since the Novi Sad tragedy — a disaster that claimed sixteen lives and ignited a nationwide call for truth, justice, and democracy in the face of growing repression.
The collapse of the Novi Sad railway station canopy was not merely an accident. It exposed the systemic corruption and institutional decay that have flourished under President Aleksandar Vučić and the Serbian Progressive Party. A year later, Serbia remains gripped by a deep political and social crisis, sustained by the concentration of power, the silencing of dissent, and the erosion of democratic institutions.
We condemn the unconstitutional accumulation of executive authority in the hands of President Vučić, whose control over parliament, the judiciary, and the media has hollowed out Serbia’s democratic framework. The subordination of the Security and Intelligence Agency (BIA) and police forces to partisan control — used for intimidation, surveillance, and violence against protesters, journalists, and activists — constitutes a direct assault on fundamental freedoms.
Hundreds of citizens have been detained — some for over seven months — for taking to the streets to denounce corruption, injustice, and authoritarian rule. Such practices reveal a regime built on fear and coercion rather than democratic legitimacy. At the same time, the government’s campaign of disinformation — labelling critics as “foreign agents” and “domestic traitors” — combined with near-total control of mainstream media, has suffocated public debate and normalized intimidation.
While the erosion of democracy in Serbia has drawn occasional rhetorical concern from Brussels, the European Union’s practical response has been one of accommodation rather than accountability. For years, EU institutions and corporate interests have tolerated authoritarian rule in the name of “stability,” as long as Serbia remained a compliant economic partner. This selective silence — where the defense of democratic values ends where corporate profit begins — has allowed both repression and exploitation to deepen.
The lithium mining deals struck between Belgrade, EU actors, and multinational corporations — negotiated without transparency or public consent — epitomize a model in which social justice and environmental safety are sacrificed to extractive capital. Yet the people of Serbia have made their stance clear: they refuse to see their land, health, and democracy traded away.
Amid this repression and exploitation, Serbia’s social and student movements remain one of the few democratic spaces still open. Their persistence and solidarity embody a collective demand for justice, equality, and accountability. Their call for free and fair early elections is the only peaceful path toward democratic renewal.
Serbia must not be treated as Europe’s periphery — a supplier of cheap labor and resources, where promises of stability come at the expense of democracy and social justice. True partnership must rest on equality, democracy, and social justice.
The European Left will continue to stand with the citizens of Serbia who resist authoritarianism and corporate exploitation, and who fight for a democratic, ecological, and socially just future.