Europe failed Serbia

I remember when Serbia loved Europe. Two decades ago, you could feel the electric anticipation of EU membership everywhere in the country. As a Hungarian living in Serbia, I had a unique perspective—watching both my cultural identities navigate their European relationships simultaneously. The values that Europe claimed to represent weren’t new to Hungarians or Serbians. Democratic governance. Rule of law. Freedom of movement. Independant journalism. They weren’t foreign concepts we needed to adopt. They were principles we had fought for, and in many cases, died for. My family, friends, and neighbors fought for these values long before the EU membership was on the table. We weren’t becoming European. We were reclaiming what was already ours.

I’ve experienced the EU’s failure to protect these values from a dual perspective. As a Hungarian, I watched Hungary’s EU integration while simultaneously seeing Serbia kept waiting. I could see how the EU operated differently with different nations. The contrast was striking and often disheartening. The EU’s treatment of Serbia was a stark reminder that the EU’s values were not universal. They were conditional.

I’ve seen EU representatives lecture Serbia on the importance of a free press while shaking hands with regime officials who openly dismantled independent media. I’ve witnesed the broken hearts of everyday Serbians watching these performances. The congitive dissonance between EU’s words and actions is a wound that won’t heal. Europe developed a stomach for hypocrisy. They would fly in, make a few speeches, shake hands with the people who were destroying Serbia, and then fly out.

The last four months crystallized this hypocrisy perfectly. I stood amond thousands of fellow citizens, protesting the regime’s latest assault on democracy and the indirect murder of people resulting from years corruption. We took the streets demanding judicial independence, media freedom, the processing of all the actors involved in the accident. We weren’t asking for special treatment, just the foundamental principles Europe claims to champion. This was Europe’s moment to stand with us, to demonstrate that its commitment to democracy trancends political calculations.

What happened instead? I watched European representatives maintan a “business as usual” with the regime, giving it legitimacy while we protested outside. These were not some abstract policies, these were tangible betrayals happening in real time. Consider what this feels like: marching for values explicitly states in EU founding documents while watching the EU representatives staying silent. The message cound’t be clearer.

Serbian citizens haven’t abandoned European values. Europe abandoned us by consistently choosing a “stablecracy”. We don’t need expressions of “deep concern”. We need Europe to align its actions with its words and principles.

Despite everything, I maintain the hope that Europe can transform itself. That it can rediscover and truly embrace democratic values.

What troubles me most is the change I’ve witnessed amound my friends. People who once spoke of Europe with admiration now speak of it with bitterness. Some actively despise the EU, something that would have been unthinkable in my social circles just a decade ago. These aren’t people who have rejected democratic values, the rule of law, or freedom. They’ve rejected the EU’s hypocrisy. They’ve rejected the EU’s betrayal.

Europe revealed its priorities. People adjusted accordingly. It’s that simple.