{"id":1188660,"date":"2026-09-05T23:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188660\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T23:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T23:20:16","slug":"serbia-wants-to-join-the-eu-can-it-do-so-while-journalists-are-forced-into-exile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1188660\/","title":{"rendered":"Serbia wants to join the EU. Can it do so while journalists are forced into exile?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Serbia wants to move forward with its EU accession, even as journalists are being threatened, surveilled and forced into exile. This exposes the growing gap between Belgrade\u2019s European ambitions and its record on media freedom.<\/p>\n

Serbia is the only country in the Europe-Balkans zone where journalists are being forced into exile because of threats linked to their work,\u00a0according to Reporters Without Borders<\/a>\u00a0(RSF). The European Commission\u2019s\u00a02026 Rule of Law Report<\/a>\u00a0reached a similar conclusion in July, finding that \u201cthe safety of journalists further deteriorated\u201d in Serbia.<\/p>\n

Yet at the same time, the Commission proposed opening a new cluster of chapters in Belgrade\u2019s EU accession negotiations. Eight member states \u2014 Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden \u2014 objected, pointing to Serbia\u2019s deteriorating rule of law and its refusal to align with EU foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe European Commission and EU member states must stop negotiating with Serbia on its accession as if this wasn\u2019t happening.\u201d
\u2014 Reporters Without Borders<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That leaves the EU facing a familiar dilemma: how far can it push Serbia on democratic standards while keeping its accession process alive?<\/p>\n

Accountability without consequences<\/p>\n

RSF says threats against Serbian journalists do not stop once they leave the country.<\/p>\n

One recent example is journalist Marko Vidojkovi\u0107, a columnist for the\u00a0Danas\u00a0daily and host of the\u00a0Dobar, lo\u0161, zao podcast on Serbian outlet Nova.rs. He left Serbia in 2023 after receiving death threats and becoming the target of a public smear campaign led by President Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107. So far, the police investigation into the threats has produced no results.<\/p>\n

You might be interested<\/p>\n


\n \"Historic
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Vidojkovi\u0107 is one of six Serbian journalists currently working from exile, according to RSF.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have denounced Serbia\u2019s government efforts to capture public and private media, host and spread Russian propaganda, intoxicate other countries\u2019 information spaces with its lies, and to block foreign journalists at the country\u2019s borders,\u201d RSF said. \u201cBut making six journalists go into exile is a new level of hostility unparalleled in the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

Du\u0161an Gaji\u0107, Europe correspondent for Serbia\u2019s public broadcaster RTS, told\u00a0EU Perspectives\u00a0that media freedom matters even to journalists working outside the country. Although he is not directly exposed to the realities of Serbia\u2019s domestic media landscape, \u201cquestions of independence, editorial independence, and autonomy of journalists are relevant also for foreign correspondents because they work for media who are part of the wider picture\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cMaking six journalists go into exile is a new level of hostility unparalleled in the region.\u201d
\u2014 Reporters Without Borders <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIf the space for different views is shrinking internally in the country, that can inevitably affect also the work of correspondents\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n

For Gaji\u0107, the biggest problem is difficult to isolate, but \u201cprobably it is the lack of genuine media pluralism\u201d.<\/p>\n

RSF has also warned that media freedom should be treated as a key condition for Serbia\u2019s EU integration. \u201cThe European Commission and EU member states must stop negotiating with Serbia on its accession as if this wasn\u2019t happening,\u201d the organisation said.<\/p>\n

The pressure on journalists also extends beyond traditional media. Amnesty International has reported<\/a> that digital surveillance in Serbia has taken place amid anti-government demonstrations and the harassment of civil society groups and journalists critical of the authorities.<\/p>\n

Putin\u2019s role \u2014 or just Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s?<\/p>\n

Foreign interference, pro-Russian propaganda and disinformation are a daily feature of Serbia\u2019s media landscape. But Gaji\u0107 cautions against treating Serbia as simply another version of Moldova or the post-Soviet states seeking closer ties with the EU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a serious problem in Serbia but is a somewhat different case from other countries of the post-Soviet or Eastern European space,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily something imported and just copy-pasted from Russia. In Serbia, there is a disinformation ecosystem which was created locally.\u201d Its \u201ccommon denominator\u201d, he said, is disinformation combined with a \u201ctabloid sensationalist press\u201d.<\/p>\n

The war in Ukraine is one of the main subjects around which disinformation circulates. However, it is far from the only one. \u201cThis parallel reality is not only limited to interpretation of the Ukraine war and so on,\u201d Gaji\u0107 said. \u201cIts main purpose is actually to create confusion locally in the domestic political scene.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Serbia\u2019s EU accession still going anywhere?<\/p>\n

Serbia\u2019s EU accession process has been effectively stalled for years. The country is now also waiting for parliamentary elections expected in October. The exact date is yet to be set.<\/p>\n

Whether the elections can change Serbia\u2019s relationship with the EU \u201cdepends on many things, such as the results, of course, but also how the election campaign goes\u201d, Gaji\u0107 said. One key test will be whether the elections are free, fair and competitive. Those standards, he said, \u201cwill definitely influence the relations with Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn Serbia, there is a disinformation ecosystem which was created locally.\u201d
\u2014 Du\u0161an Gaji\u0107<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But without a fundamental change in Belgrade\u2019s approach to accession, \u201cthis blockage will stay\u201d. \u201cAnd this radical change is not on the horizon,\u201d Gaji\u0107 said. \u201cWhen I say radical change, it means a totally different approach to media freedom, our topic, also rule of law in a wider sense, including the fight against corruption and judicial independence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the current circumstances, he sees Serbia\u2019s EU accession prospects as increasingly bleak.<\/p>\n

A locally rooted problem<\/p>\n

According to the\u00a0European Commission<\/a>, Serbia is the most Eurosceptic country in the Western Balkans. The reasons are deeply rooted in the country\u2019s politics and recent history, Gaji\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some coming from the history and the war from the \u201990s. There are reasons related to Kosovo problem. An important part, the crucial perhaps one, is the anti-EU narratives of a good part of the media outlets close to the government.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, he said, many Serbians who oppose the government see the EU as complicit with the authorities in undermining democracy.<\/p>\n

There is a widespread perception that Europe is more interested in regional stability, including stability secured through Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s approach to lithium resources and Kosovo, than in building genuine democracy in Serbia. \u201cSo it\u2019s a kind of perfect storm for the reputation of Europe in Serbia,\u201d Gaji\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

Despite these deeply rooted domestic problems, however, Serbia is unlikely to break completely with the EU. \u201cThe authorities would probably never risk breaking up totally with Europe and quitting the EU accession process, like it happened in Georgia,\u201d Gaji\u0107 said.<\/p>\n

Serbia is simply too economically integrated with the EU, he argued, with its economy deeply tied to European supply chains and trade.<\/p>\n

That may keep Belgrade on the European path. But whether it can move forward on that path while journalists are being threatened, surveilled and forced into exile is a much harder question.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serbia wants to move forward with its EU accession, even as journalists are being threatened, surveilled and forced…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1188661,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[318719,6502,2000,299,5187,2557,1699,21903,6563,13981,322108,6567,2322],"class_list":["post-1188660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-accession","tag-aleksandar-vucic","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-commission","tag-european-union","tag-journalism","tag-media-freedom","tag-rsf","tag-rule-of-law-report","tag-serbia","tag-surveillance"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117221002632448445","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1188660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1188660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1188661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1188660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1188660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1188660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}