In a comprehensive analysis published on the well-known French portal La Vie des Idées, journalist and analyst Jean-Arnault Derens describes how Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, builds and maintains his power: through printing money without backing, selling national assets, and deep systemic corruption—always with the silent support of the European Union.
According to the French media, while the West speaks of democracy, Serbia is sliding toward a “stabilocracy”—an authoritarian regime that guarantees calm as long as human rights, media freedom, and institutional capture are ignored. Vučić, as highlighted, combines economic populism with total control of state institutions, using far-right groups as a “controlled opposition” and “bogeymen for intimidation,” both for domestic and international audiences.
The article emphasizes that Serbia’s economic model is not based on real growth but on printing money and the massive sale of natural resources—copper to Chinese companies and lithium to the international giant Rio Tinto. All of this takes place in a political system where power controls public tenders, local municipalities, the judiciary, and the media, as reported by N1.
The French author recalls that Vučić was politically formed in the Serbian Radical Party with extremist leanings, served as Minister of Information during the war in Kosovo, and today skillfully plays between the East and the West, maintaining close ties with Putin, Xi Jinping, as well as European leaders like Macron and Meloni.
The article also humorously notes, “The purchase of 12 French Rafale jets in August 2024 has become a political symbol—because a buyer of Rafales cannot be a bad person,” highlighting the reality of great power interests and the tolerance of authoritarian regimes in the Balkans.
Although Serbia is formally a candidate for EU membership, the French media argues that this process has long entered a dark zone. Vučić uses this status to consolidate his power, while the EU is content with “stability”—as long as there are no open conflicts.
Touching on the current protests and student assemblies in Serbia, the author notes that a new form of resistance is emerging in the country, one that rejects traditional left-right divisions and seeks true democracy, justice, and moral integrity.
