Reclaiming civic space for a democratic Europe

Serbia’s student-backed electoral victory opens a door. Lasting change depends on citizens having a voice between elections, and on the relationships and institutions that make participation possible.

BY: Matthias Herr, Snezana Mišić, Gorana Radovanovic - 11. November 2026

From the streets to the ballot box

The railway station canopy collapse in Novi Sad on 1 November 2024 ultimately claimed 16 lives. Grief and demands for accountability grew into a nationwide civic movement. Students occupied universities and organised protests. Teachers, farmers and professionals joined them, demanding that institutions serve the public and that those exercising power answer for their decisions. In Serbia’s parliamentary election on 25 October 2026, the student-backed list won an absolute majority. Final results declared on 5 November confirmed 140 of 250 seats, opening the way to a new government after 14 years of Serbian Progressive Party dominance. An electoral victory does not itself restore trust or build a democratic culture. That takes
independent institutions, free media and citizens who remain engaged between elections. Civic space means both the freedom to protest and the ability to influence decisions that shape everyday life.

The civic foundations of Serbia’s movement

The movement’s strength came from citizens themselves. Its achievements should not be credited to development programmes, nor should independent civil society be confused with an electoral list. Lawyers offered legal assistance to protesters, rights organisations documented abuses, and independent journalists brought evidence into public view. They performed distinct roles, without needing to speak for the students. Many faced intimidation and smear campaigns themselves. Their work shows why a society needs more than political parties. People need somewhere to turn when their rights are threatened, and reliable information with which to judge those in power. These functions remain essential whoever governs.

A warning for the region and for Europe

Serbia is not an isolated case. In Albania, the “Flamingo Revolution” grew out of opposition to coastal tourism development in May 2026, raising wider questions about public resources and who decides their use. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, responsibilities spread across several levels of government can make it difficult for citizens to turn concerns into decisions.
The circumstances differ. But when participation feels pointless or inaccessible, frustration grows. Protest can open a door; lasting channels for dialogue and accountability help keep it open.This matters beyond the Western Balkans. Recent protests over schools and public services in France also expose tensions between citizens’ expectations and institutional responses. No European society can take that relationship for granted.

European integration offers a shared framework for addressing it. A country can align its laws with EU standards while citizens still find institutions opaque and out of reach. Democracy requires rules to be applied fairly, public scrutiny and ways to challenge abuse. Economic development needs the same foundations: legal certainty, fair competition and accountable public spending.

ACT partners strengthen their capacities through advanced crowdfunding training

Civil society is more than a watchdog

Civil society also builds bridges. A neighbourhood association brings residents together over an unsafe road. A disability organisation helps turn barriers to public services into proposals a municipality can act on. A women’s organisation connects people facing violence with support and presses for better protection.

These groups organise shared interests, bring knowledge into public debate and help people engage with institutions. Community meetings, public consultations and citizen monitoring can connect that everyday work to decisions at local and national levels. They matter when authorities listen, explain their choices and follow through.

A healthy civil society includes formal organisations, informal initiatives, professional associations and independent voices, linked in many ways. Its strength lies in these relationships and its ability to adapt, not simply in the number of organisations receiving grants.

Cooperation with government must leave room for disagreement. Participation loses value when it merely legitimises decisions already taken. Organisations need the independence to cooperate, challenge or withdraw when engagement becomes tokenistic.

That independence has a material basis. Short grants and reliance on one donor can pull priorities away from communities. International support has sometimes reinforced this dependency. Better support helps groups build constituencies, share skills and develop local resources, while recognising that unpopular causes and excluded communities may still need external funding.

What investing in civic engagement looks like

Since 2019, Helvetas and Civic Initiatives have implemented ACT – For an Active Civil Society Together, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). It helps Serbian organisations strengthen community ties, diversify funding and engage in public decisions.

Training and mentoring in fundraising help partners ask citizens and businesses to support causes they value. Joint initiatives connect groups facing similar problems. During ACT’s first phase, supported organisations’ services and initiatives benefited more than 150,000 people; their advocacy contributed to 33 local and 11 national legal or policy changes.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Swiss-funded PRAGG programme has brought more than 200 organisations and thousands of citizens into participation and advocacy activities across over 35 communities. Its policy forums and partnerships connect community concerns with public institutions. Civil society engagement helped advance the country’s first strategy for an enabling environment for civil society. Implementation remains the test.

In Kosovo, the 2025 social audit cycle supported through DEMOS involved up to 120 community members across six municipalities. With BIRN Kosovo, Democracy Plus and local organisations, citizens reviewed documents, visited infrastructure projects and raised concerns about accessibility, safety and construction quality. The process helped bring citizens and municipalities together to discuss the findings, identify areas for improvement and follow up on concerns raised during the social audits. DEMOS is implemented by Helvetas and co-financed by the EU, Switzerland and Sweden.

These are practical ways to turn participation into routine public oversight. Helvetas, itself a Swiss civil society organisation, can help connect local actors, public institutions and experience across countries. Our role is to facilitate learning and cooperation, independently of party politics, with local civil society shaping the work. That includes testing new approaches and sharing what succeeds or fails.

Three priorities for a shared democratic agenda

In “When Development Cooperation Becomes Strategic”, we raised concerns about losing governance expertise as cooperation shifts towards economic priorities. The experiences above show why civic participation belongs within Europe’s development and integration agenda. Three priorities follow.

Build lasting channels for participation. Flexible, multi-year support can help communities and institutions establish consultations, public dialogue and citizen oversight that continue beyond a project. Success means people can influence decisions and see how authorities respond.
Sustain engagement through transitions. Elections create expectations; delivering accountable institutions takes longer. Support should help citizens scrutinise reforms and public spending through political changes, while strengthening the relationships and resources that eventually make external assistance less necessary.
Invest in locally rooted civil society. Funding should encourage collaboration, experimentation and accountability to communities, alongside diverse sources of income. Switzerland’s experience of direct democracy and local participation offers useful lessons for exchange, adapted to each context. Helvetas can bring partners together to learn from those experiences and from one another.

Civic space is never permanently secured

Civic engagement cannot be manufactured from outside, but its foundations can be strengthened. Governments must protect freedoms and offer meaningful opportunities to participate. Civil society must remain accountable to the people it represents. Independent media must be able to investigate without intimidation.

International partners should support these conditions without choosing political winners. Europe’s future with the Western Balkans depends on citizens being able to shape, question and trust the institutions that govern them.

Serbia’s students have demonstrated the power of civic mobilisation. The task now is to make participation a lasting feature of democratic life. Supporting that work is an investment in a stable, prosperous and democratic Europe.