Belgrade 2/10/2025
PUBLIC STATEMENT
SUPPORT TO EC COMMESSIONER MARTA KOS
AND HER OPEN LETTER
Forum for Security and Democracy expresses its support for the messages in the open letter of the Commissioner for EU expansion Marta Kos in which she states support for the students’ demands.
FSD sees her messages as indicative, useful, measured and as a road sign towards the resolution of the ongoing political and social crisis in Serbia.
FSD especially underscores the significance of the messages in Mrs. Kos’s letter pertaining to the importance of freedom of assembly as a citizens’ inalienable right, the fact that any form of violence towards the protest participants is impermissible, the call for a complete investigation of all noted incidents of such occurrences to date and also the implicit condemnation of the everyday public discourse surrounding the student protests and the citizens who support them which can be heard from irritated and frightened government officials, as well as on their state media which only incites and escalates the existing divisions and animosities in society.
FSD also notes with concern the displeasure with the messages of Mrs. Kos in some civil society circles, which are on occasion accompanied by unmeasured words of criticism for the EC commissioner for not taking a sharper tone in her public statements.
FSD warns that such critiques demonstrate a lack of political capacity and ability on the part of those who are voicing them, as well as their inability to more actively get involved in the navigating of this crisis, which they seek to overcompensate through more overt intervention by the EC in an already exceedingly delicate political situation in the country.
FSD last but by no means least warns that any incautious direct influence and involvement by the EC in the current events in Serbia could prove to be counterproductive.
FSD on this particular note keeps in mind not only the inconsistencies of the pro-European opposition and anatema-showered civil society but also that such an involvement could much more effectively be used by those political powers in Serbia, in government as well as those in parts of society with ties to foreign centers, which are trying to halt Serbia’s advancement towards the EU.
FSD emphasizes that the creation of pragmatic frameworks and tools by the EC and the EU for the facing and overcoming of the current crisis in Serbia is more important than their pamflet or populist support for the protests.
FSD underlines that such a political and diplomatic reaction by the EU to the crisis in Serbia is becoming especially important in a situation in which the opponents of the EU and it’s values in Serbia haven’t managed to get a significant foothold within the ongoing student protests which they shouldn’t be helped to do by the EC and the EU in any way, not even indirectly.
