Montenegro’s accession to the European Union would reduce Serbia’s regional leverage and halt what she described as a process of “Serbianisation” in the country, Serbian human rights activist Sonja Biserko said, adding that Moscow favours maintaining the status quo in the Western Balkans.
“It was clear from the outset that Serbia would seek to slow Montenegro’s path to EU membership,” Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, told Montenegro’s Pobjeda newspaper. “Montenegro’s entry would weaken Serbia’s influence in the region and effectively mark the end of the ‘Serbian world’ project.”
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has criticised Montenegro’s EU ambitions and floated the idea that the entire Western Balkans should join the bloc simultaneously, a proposal Biserko called unrealistic.
“Serbia is lagging far behind in reforms,” she said, citing shortcomings in media freedom, civil society, judicial independence and conditions for free and fair elections. “The EU continues to urge Serbia to deliver on these issues, as well as to implement the Ohrid agreement and address foreign disinformation.”
Biserko said the EU’s long-standing policy of accommodating Belgrade had failed, prompting Brussels to turn more decisively toward Albania and Montenegro. She noted that EU officials were increasingly discussing the launch of work on Montenegro’s accession treaty.
“Serbia has shown that it is not a partner, but an oppressor,” she said.
Asked why EU praise for Montenegro provokes sharp reactions in Belgrade, Biserko said Serbia was already subject to what she described as strong and malign Russian influence.
“Serbia, and especially President Vucic, are effectively hostages to Russian interests,” she said, pointing to energy ties and the case of Serbia’s oil company NIS. “Vučić often appears more concerned with Russia’s interests than with Serbia’s.”
She added that Moscow relies on maintaining frozen political dynamics in the Western Balkans, with Serbia’s ruling parties serving as a key instrument of that strategy.
“Russia benefits from the status quo, and Serbian radicals and progressives remain central to achieving that goal,” Biserko said. “The result is growing tension inside Serbia and fears of instability reminiscent of the 1990s.”
She said public anxiety was visible in rising demand for euros, concluding that Montenegro’s progress toward EU membership represented a strategic setback for both Serbian nationalist ambitions and Russian influence in the region.