Serbia’s Student Movement Demands Radical Reshaping of Top State Institutions

POLICY WIRE — Belgrade, Serbia — Serbia’s newly victorious student-led movement has issued a call for the removal of key figures in the police, intelligence, and judiciary sectors, following their electoral victory over the former president Aleksandar Vučić’s party.

In Pioneers’ Park, adjacent to the parliament, newly elected Members of Parliament (MPs) from the Student List gathered to demand the immediate dismissal of law-breaking police officers, specifically targeting the heads of the police, the BIA security agency, and the anti-terror unit.

This dramatic shift marks a rare instance in European politics where a group of political novices, comprising intellectuals, professors, artists, athletes, and medical professionals, has been entrusted with the task of resetting the country’s political system.

However, the transition of power will take time, and the student movement is concerned that evidence of potential wrongdoings could be destroyed during this period. Just days earlier, the same park was a tent camp filled with Vučić supporters. Following his concession on Sunday night, the camp was dismantled, and volunteers swiftly cleaned the area.

This is just the first wave of spring cleaning, the new ones are coming now—we are very excited but ready to do it too, said Marija Milovanović, 25, as she scrubbed a park bench.

The student movement emerged from protests following the fatal collapse of a railway station canopy in Novi Sad in November 2024, which killed 16 people. The movement’s main goal was to bring those responsible to justice and to investigate widespread corruption.

Under their Student Plan, the movement vows to halt plundering, return stolen assets to the state budget, and invest directly in education and the economy. The purge of Vučić loyalists has already begun, with the director of Serbia’s state broadcaster RTS, Manja Grčić, stepping down.

Serbian citizens have the right to truthful information, and RTS has served the interests of the government for years, said newly elected MP Mirjana Nikolić.

The new MPs are also targeting the head of Telekom Srbija, Vladimir Lučić, for replacement. However, acting President Ana Brnabić has accused her opponents of pursuing “revolutionary justice” rather than the rule of law, and of aiming to silence media they dislike.

Despite the challenges, prominent MP Dejan Šoškić, an economist and former central bank governor, outlined his vision for rapid reforms. In the first six months, I would like to see the media scene liberated, the fight against corruption advanced, and institutions operating as prescribed by laws, with the introduction of a lustration law, he said.

Lustration would involve barring public officials who violated citizens’ rights under the Vučić government from holding office. Strahinja Subotić of the Belgrade-based European Policy Centre cautions that such a purge will take time, given the long-standing control of Serbia’s main institutions by Vučić and his party.

The 141 successful candidates were chosen through a secretive and thorough process involving students from universities across Serbia. They are tasked with implementing a 1200-page detailed plan for overhauling the country, developed by the student movement.

Professor Radomir Saičić, a prominent figure on the Student List, emphasized the importance of adhering to the students’ plan. “While the practical mechanisms will be developed on the go, the new MPs will stick to the students’ 1200-page long and detailed plan,” he stated.

Though they are political newcomers, the election winners face the complex challenge of balancing Serbia’s foreign policy, which includes its candidacy for EU membership and its relations with Russia. The EU has welcomed the Student List’s victory and pledged support for reforms, but integration remains a lower priority in the students’ manifesto.

The new government’s initial focus will likely be on domestic reform, with presidential elections due in December. Vučić, legally barred from a third term, has vowed to fight back, promising that his defeated Serbian Progressive Party will return to power.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)