When the EU monitors the situation, everyone loses

The recent protests in Serbia – sparked by the Novi Sad tragedy, fueled by years of corruption, and met with police violence – should have been a test case for the EU's commitment to its own values. Instead, it became a masterclass in diplomatic cowardice.

While students were being dragged off the streets, while red paint marked the sites of protest, while the government tightened its grip, Brussels offered the same tired formula: "We are monitoring the situation closely." Monitor this.

The EU has leverage. Accession talks, funding, political support – all of it could be used to pressure a government that has grown comfortable with authoritarianism. But that would require something the EU has proven unwilling to risk: a real confrontation.

So they watch. They wait. They issue statements that no one reads. And the government in Belgrade knows exactly how far it can push. Further, apparently, than anyone thought.

he tragic irony is that the people protesting in Serbia aren't asking for much. Just accountability. Just justice. Just the same values that the EU claims to defend. But when they reach out for help, they find that the guardian has no teeth, no spine, and no real interest in rocking the boat.

When the EU monitors the situation, everyone loses. The protesters lose hope. The government loses accountability. And the EU loses whatever credibility it had left. The only winners are the cynics – the ones who always knew that "European values" were just words on paper.

Serbia's protesters aren't waiting for Brussels to save them. They never were. But they deserved better than silence dressed up as diplomacy. And the EU should be ashamed of what it didn't do.