What emerges is that despite their different focal points, support for European values serves as a common denominator for most of these movements. What unites them is their opposition to corruption, democratic backsliding, and the concentration of power in the hands of elites.
[…]
These movements share important characteristics despite their different national contexts. All emerged in response to specific events: a train station collapse in Serbia, a pedophilia scandal in Hungary, a secret meeting with Putin in Slovakia, the rise of far-right euroscepticism in Romania, and the halting of EU negotiations in Georgia. Despite these different triggers, they all reflect deeper grievances about governance, with corruption and abuse of power emerging as common themes.
[…]
The European Union, in its own interest, should provide much clearer support to these movements rather than maintaining diplomatic distance or prioritizing short-term stability. By standing firmly with citizens who embody its core values on the streets, the EU would not only strengthen its moral authority but also invest in the democratic future of the entire continent. These courageous demonstrators are not just fighting for their own countries—they represent the living heart of the European project itself.
People protesting for democracy? Obviously, the USA are behind that.
Oh, wait.
I agree with the blurb: there is a common denominator to these protests, and the EU should support (explicit or implicit) pro-EU movements. It should also crunch its bureaucratic machinery harder against member states that violate EU statutes (things they signed when they joined).
This is a very romantic view on the events happening. In Serbia for example, the EU is strongly connected to the authoritarian leader Vucic. If you look at the protests, you won’t see EU flags because the Serbs are disappointed and do not care about the EU. Yes, the EU should do something, I wonder however if it is already too late.
Tiflis, as directly within the Russian influence sphere, has of course much more ambitions towards the EU.
Yes, the European Union has largely failed to this day. The EU -by far Serbia’s largest provider of financial assistance- should connect business interests with human rights. Any trade rules, business agreements, and development aid without human rights don’t make sense. This has to change.
I thought one of the leader of the Serbian protests explicitly asked for no EU flags to be shown, to avoid accusations of foreign meddling?
A small correction: there is no leader. The students themselves decide everything on plenary sessions and every decision is executed by working groups that are formed afterwards. You always have different people executing the decisions to avoid any one person being seen as a “leader”. And we are slowly shifting to citizens themselves forming local groups in their neighbourhoods with the same organisation.
But yes, the students asked that only Serbian flags be shown, because these are protests that have support from a wide range of people, from anarchist vegans to ultra nationalists, so they want to prevent any division. That doesn’t stop some right wing dipshits to bring Russian flags, even though Russia explicitly condemned the prorests as a “coloured revolution”, but what can you do.
While some EU representatives from the parliament have been supportive, the EU has a negative image because officials still act like everything’s in order. Ursula is set to meet with our psychopathic dictator, and Marta Kos wrote how she had a constructive talk concerning Serbia’s steps towards EU integration with the guy who tried to cause a bloodbath during the 15 mins of silence a few days ago. A guy who also officially (as a president under the Serbian constitution) has about as much say as I do concerning these things.
there is no leader
It has little to do with the topic at hand, but I sometimes join a group that does things this way too. So many people have a hard time grasping that this is even possible, e.g.:
“Let me explain: The students themselves decide everything on plenary sessions and every decision is executed by working groups that are formed afterwards. You always have different people executing the decisions to avoid any one person being seen as a “leader”.”
“OK, but you must have a boss?!”
Yeah, allegedly, state security spent quite a while trying to “root out the ringleaders”
