Serbia’s moment of truth: What to expect from the 25 October elections and beyond?
19 October 2026 5:00 pm CEST
Panel discussion in the context of the wiiw-oiip seminar series 'Europe in a Fragmented World: Geo-economic and Geo-political Dynamics'
In cooperation with:
Venue
Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche (wiiw)
Rahlgasse 3
1060 Vienna
Seminar room (entrance from the ground floor)
Description
Serbia is facing its moment of truth on 25 October, when the country goes to the polls to elect a new parliament, after almost two years of protests and blockades across the country, organised by students and triggered by the collapse of the canopy of the Novi Sad railway station, which killed 16 people. The main contenders in the elections are the student list – organised and assembled by the student movement and consisting of intellectuals, professors and non-party persons – and the well-established SNS of Aleksandar Vučić, which has governed Serbia since 2012.
At this event, we will discuss how the elections could go and what may happen afterwards – in terms of who forms the government, what happens in society, economic policies, international relations (EU, Russia, etc.), as well as democratic standards and the rule of law.
The panel will consist of people from the region, with close connections to it and good knowledge of the situation there. Yet, some of them live abroad, which gives them the distance necessary to see the forest, not just the trees.
Welcome remarks
Hannes Swoboda, President (wiiw; Architekturzentrum Wien; FH Campus Wien)
Cengiz Günay, Director Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip)
Moderation
Mario Holzner, Executive Director (wiiw)
Panelists
Hedvig Morvai, Executive Director, Europe and Democracy (Erste Foundation)
Branimir Jovanović, Economist and Western Balkans expert (wiiw)
Milica Popović, Senior Postdoctoral Researcher (Institute of Culture Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences)
We kindly ask you to register for the event.
*The seminar series, titled Europe in a Fragmented World: Geo-economic and Geo-political Dynamics, jointly organised by the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies (wiiw) and the Austrian Institute for International Affairs (oiip), aims to analyse geopolitical and geoeconomic trends and their impact on Europe’s future from an interdisciplinary perspective. The series seeks to contribute to the ongoing debates on how to reposition Europe within an increasingly politically unstable and economically competitive international system.