Although the authorities are trying to present the image that they hold all the strings in their hands, it is certain that they will carry a multitude of problems into the New Year. The serious political and social crisis that Serbia has been facing for a year will only become harder to overcome as time goes by.
Problems surrounding the Petroleum Industry of Serbia, elections, the lack of progress in European integration, and a seriously damaged foreign policy are some of the most pressing crises that the authorities are taking into 2026. A source speaking to Nova says there is little chance that the crises affecting Serbia will be resolved in the period ahead.
All the hardships Serbia is facing will continue into the coming year, because the authorities have not found solutions in many areas. The question arises: in 2026, are the chances greater for a resolution or for a new escalation?
Diplomat Srećko Đukić, speaking to Nova, points out that all crisis-related issues are being carried over into the next year, with no prospect that any of them will be resolved. On the contrary, says Đukić, each of them will be deepened and will cost the citizens of Serbia financially, politically, through sanctions, and in every other way.
So, let us go through them one by one…
The Petroleum Industry of Serbia (NIS)
Serbia is facing a serious crisis related to the country’s energy supply since NIS came under American sanctions, and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has so far on several occasions placed Russia’s interests ahead of Serbia’s. As the latest announcement of a solution, Vučić has mentioned 15 January. In fact, the question is whether there is any solution for NIS at all.
Vučić claims that time is running out, and less than a month remains until the deadline by which Serbia once again wanted to accommodate Russia and allow it to resolve the NIS issue. There have also been announcements that the potential buyer could be the Hungarian company MOL.
Srećko Đukić tells Nova that if, from the huge package with no bright spots for 2026, we single out the topic of NIS within the framework of Serbia’s energy security, regardless of how this issue is resolved, it will cost Serbia dearly in financial terms. Đukić explains that citizens will feel this through fuel prices or in some other way, bearing in mind that some calculations show that NIS could cost more than four billion euros in a single year. “This applies even if NIS is sold in the meantime, because any buyer who acquires NIS will certainly not invest money in rehabilitation and revitalisation, but will instead push their own capacities. This primarily refers to the Hungarian MOL, if it becomes the buyer, and we have proof for this claim in the fact that MOL practically destroyed INA in Croatia, which it bought. We should remember that INA was once the largest Yugoslav refinery,” says Nova’s interlocutor.
Elections
President Aleksandar Vučić claims that 2026 will be a turning point in the political life of Serbia. He has announced the holding of “fateful” elections.
Judging by what has and has not been done so far, the President has been trying to buy time, given that he has still not called elections, even though students and citizens have been demanding them for months.
Meanwhile, students in blockades have begun collecting citizens’ signatures at several locations in Belgrade, as well as in other cities across Serbia, in support of calling elections. The aim of the action, named “Call the victory”, is to prepare for snap parliamentary elections, which has been their sole demand for months. From “you will get elections whenever you want” to the offended “elections will be held when the incompetent institution says so”, an entire year has passed. When asked whether elections will finally be called in the year ahead and whether they will truly be “fateful”, Đukić says he is not optimistic here either.
“I think the authorities will do everything in their power for those elections to take place in 2027, before or after EXPO, because EXPO is the crown of this government and it should also be the crown of the elections. It is really hard for me to imagine two things. First, that I wake up tomorrow and see a different media landscape in Serbia while Vučić is in power, and second, that elections are held according to all democratic principles under the control of this government. For me, those two things are unimaginable,” Đukić says.
(Nova, 07.01.2026)