• 2025-01-30

Serbian President Must Stop Targeting Civil Society Representatives

The Center for Democracy Foundation (CDF) is a member of the Program Council of the National Convention on the European Union (NCEU)

The National Convention on the European Union (NCEU) strongly condemns the public targeting of Maja Stojanović and Civic Initiatives – coordinator of the Intersectoral Working Group for Freedom of Expression and Media – by the President of the Republic of Serbia. This targeting has resulted in daily threats and intimidation through government-aligned tabloids. False accusations regarding her alleged role in organizing student protests have been used to pressure the proposers and candidates involved in the selection process for the new composition of REM (Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media). These individuals had previously exposed irregularities in the process conducted by the Committee for Culture and Information of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia.

This campaign is part of a broader attempt to delegitimize civil society and restrict freedom of expression in Serbia.

The NCEU calls on the relevant institutions to ensure the safety of all civil society activists and to put an end to these harmful practices, which only exacerbate tensions during an already deep political crisis in Serbian society.

Furthermore, we urge the European Union institutions to address the systematic pressures on civil society in Serbia and to safeguard the country’s progress in aligning with fundamental EU principles.

Source: NCEU