Can Serbia Strengthen Central European Position in Europe After Vučić?

The fall of Belgrade’s strongman ends the leader-to-leader channels Prague and Bratislava relied on and gives Warsaw and Budapest a rule-of-law agenda to support. Where are the low-hanging fruits?

The Student List’s victory in Serbia’s early parliamentary election on 25 October 2026 ended Aleksandar Vučić’s 14 years in power by peaceful, democratic means. The celebrations that filled Belgrade’s streets have since given way to a slower and more technical transition. The movement has elected a speaker of parliament and is debating whether to vote only for a prime minister or for each minister as well. Whether it becomes a party, an association or remains an informal movement is undecided, and a presidential election is due by 27 December.

The winners arrive with little administrative preparation. The campaign absorbed the movement’s energy and left little time to identify people for key posts, while the incoming leadership has scant experience in diplomacy. The outgoing Serbian Progressive Party still holds the ministries and is split. One camp around Vučić expects the Students to bring chaos into the institutions and the party to return to power within six to 12 months. Another is dealing with broken municipal budgets and the collapse of a major bank linked to the regime, which hit companies and local governments that kept their money there.