Aleksandar Vučić does not care about progress in European integration at all. This is partly due to the nature of his authoritarian rule, which tolerates no oversight, but also because European integration is not a vote-winner for his electorate. They do not care in the slightest about aligning with the standards set by the Bloc.
When it comes to his voters, there is a Radical-style aversion to the West. Vučić’s only concern is that the European Union does not cause him too much trouble over endorsing election results – elections that will, clearly, be held under irregular circumstances, according to Danas’ interlocutors.
Political commentators also believe that Vučić is keen to get a “wind in his sails” from the EU – primarily in the form of funding but also for Serbia to remain permanently stuck in the integration process.
Without establishing the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and free media, his regime would face a swift loss of power, and certain members of the administration could face criminal prosecution.
“Vučić cares about Brussels endorsing the results of future elections”
“First of all, it must be said that neither Aleksandar Vučić personally nor his voters care absolutely at all about EU membership, and it could be concluded that they actually dread the prospect to a considerable degree. He fears potential oversight by Brussels institutions, while they harbour a Radical-style aversion to the West and a fear of ‘losing their identity’,” says Đorđe Vukadinović, a political analyst and editor of Nova srpska politička misao (New Serbian Political Thought), speaking to Danas.
At the same time, Vučić knows very well – and Viktor Orbán’s recent defeat in Hungary served as an excellent warning in this regard – that he cannot risk a direct and open confrontation with Brussels and the most powerful EU member states, led by Germany, he adds.
“But this is not because his voters will supposedly be disillusioned and turn their backs on him, because they won’t, but because Brussels and the EU have various mechanisms at their disposal – political, media, and financial – to make his life miserable and threaten his absolutist rule. Consequently, our ‘Euro-integration’ under Vučić and the SNS looks exactly as it does. He pretends to care about joining the EU, even though he doesn’t, and they pretend to care about admitting us – whilst essentially they just want to retain a degree of influence and, above all, prevent Serbia from accidentally drifting to the other geopolitical side.
The current game surrounding the opening of Cluster 3 should be viewed in this context. Neither the cluster nor membership matters to Vučić, but it matters to him that the EU is not a direct enemy and, crucially, that Brussels endorses the results of future elections without too much nitpicking over electoral conditions. In that sense, for external and internal consumption, the mere announcement by the European Commission that the cluster might be opened was quite enough,” explains our interlocutor.
“Vučić wants Serbia to be permanently stuck in the European integration process”
According to Robert Kozma, an MP from the Green-Left Front, the main priority for the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and Vučić is to run away from elections for as long as possible, hoping they might find a way to stay in power.
“And when it comes to European integration, they want Serbia to be permanently stuck in this process, but without establishing the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and free media – as that would mean a swift loss of power for them, and criminal prosecution for some. Hence their desire to secure the opening of a cluster, knowing they will never implement legislative changes or enforce laws, as well as to lower the tension in relations with EU member states so that their access to pre-accession funds and money from the Growth and Reform Facility is not entirely jeopardised,” points out the Danas interlocutor.
As he adds, they need that money in an attempt to show a section of the electorate that the “story” of infrastructural development has not been called into question.
“However, I am convinced that by now, the majority of Serbian citizens have realised that the Progressives’ ‘pork-barrel’ construction projects are both costing us dearly and putting our lives at risk,” Robert Kozma concludes.
(Danas, 10.07.2026)
https://www.danas.rs/vesti/politika/eu-vucic-izbori-orban-poraz/