Thread by @Andric1961

False friends. Why the 🇩🇪Konrad Adenauer Foundation should end its cooperation with the Serbian ruling party SNS, if it wants to preserve (or restore) its credibility (and that of Germany) in Serbia. A thread based on an article in Frankfurter Allgenmeines weekend edition:

Some days ago, Manfred Weber, the head of the European People’s Party (EPP), announced that the EPP will "scrutinize" its relations with the Serbian Progressive Party SNS (which is an associate member of the EPP).
europeanwesternbalkans.com/2025/09/09/man…

Weber said: “As EPP we are aware of the developments (in Serbia), we see the pictures (… ). The EPP has not a blind eye on what is happening in Serbia, and that's why I will as EPP leader initiate a scrutiny process about Vucic and also the party being part of the EPP family…”

Finally, something seems to be changing among German conservatives, and generally. For years in Berlin, one ran into a wall of silence with warnings that Vučić’s SNS could not be a partner for Germany. One example: In June 2020, I wrote in FAZ:
faz.net/aktuell/politi…

“(…) The EPP and other foreign partners of the Serbian governing party should ask themselves whom they have allowed access to their political family. The argument that it is better to remain in dialogue than to break off communication channels only holds up to a certain point.”

“This is the point at which a partnership begins to dilute your own values. Of course, anyone who wants to stay in dialogue with Serbia has to talk to Vučić, since more than ever he is the dominant force. But it also matters how one talks to each other”. (FAZ, 2020)

“Does the EPP really want to do so on the basis of equal membership in the same political family? Or wouldn’t it be in the interest of all parties involved to draw a line? The membership of the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz in the EPP is suspended.” (FAZ, 2020)

“It is time to consider whether the same might not also be advisable in the case of the Serbian Progressive Party. If such consideration leads to Belgrade recalling the values that should be binding for belonging to the EPP, even better.” (FAZ, 2020)

After I published this commentary, I received friendly calls from various acquaintances / friends in the CDU and in the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (which is CDUs think tank, in a way). The callers, well-intentioned, told me that I was wrong and missed “the bigger picture”.

The bigger picture, they claimed, was that Vučić was indispensable as a stabilizing factor in the Balkans and that one must not allow the dialogue with him to stop. In short: My editorial at the time had (almost) zero effect, albeit some conservatives agreed with me even then.

Is Weber’s announcement a sign of a change of course in German policy toward Belgrade? Maybe. But there are further steps to take along the way. One of them leads through the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and its policy toward Serbia.
kas.de/de/einzeltitel…

KAS maintains more than 100 offices in some 80 countries with about 1,000 employees. Year after year, they organize many events and seminars with tens of thousands of participants. In doing so, KAS also represents the image that people abroad have of Germany.

But in Serbia, the goal of KAS (promoting democracy) stands in a growing contradiction to its partnership with the SNS - a party that has captured the state, rolled back democracy and seeks a partnership with Russia and China.
balkaninsight.com/2025/09/03/ser…

At the 25th anniversary celebration of KAS´ Belgrade office in 2022 then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabić said the KAS had been “one of the most important partners of the Serbian government” for years. But how has Serbia’s democracy developed during those years?
sns.org.rs/lat/novosti/ve…

The Serbian government also uses its partnership with the KAS to signal to the students who have been protesting in Serbia for months: “You don’t stand a chance. The West is on our side.”
tanjug.rs/english/politi…

I asked Serbian public figures what they think of the cooperation between the KAS and the SNS. So many responses came in that I could only mention a small fraction of them in the article. Some examples. Sonja Biserko (Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia):

„Berlin has relied on Vučić as a guarantor of stability for too long, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. The question now is how long Germany can sustain this illusion while Serbia sinks deeper into authoritarianism and geopolitical balancing at the EU’s expense”

@FilipEjdus, (Belgrade University): „While I can understand why German conservatives gave Vučić and his party the benefit of the doubt in the early 2010s, his anti-democratic and anti-European track record has been obvious for more than a decade (…)”

Ejdus adds: „It is high time for KAS to sever its cooperation with SNS; in fact, it is long overdue.“ Many interlocutors had similar thoughts, for example the political analyst Aleksandar Djokic (@polidemitolog):

„(…) it would be prudent for KAS, and other organizations (…), to start distancing themselves from the regime, if not to oppose it openly. This would improve the image of the organization, as well as their countries of origin.”

Nevena Mijatović, a phd student I got to know on a KAS event, warns: „If KAS wishes to remain an ally of civic Serbia in the development of democracy, its educational programs must openly address the authoritarian practices of the SNS regime and value acts of civic resistance.”

“Without this, the foundation risks losing the trust of young people or, even worse, inadvertently directing their loyalty toward the regime that dismantles democracy", Mijatović adds.
euronews.rs/srbija/politik…

Disclaimer: I have no problem with KAS as such, on the contrary. Just last week I was in Serbia at their invitation to speak to Serbian students at a seminar. I was invited by the foundation many times. But KAS´s (and Berlin´s) strategy towards Serbia is fundamentally wrong.

Wrong not only, but especially from a European conservative point of view. Aligning with the friends of Putin and forces that undermine democracy in their country is not conservative. It can lead to nothing good. Not today, not tomorrow.

This is not about values alone. It is simply not in the German interest to keep this political partnership running. Moscow´s friends cannot be Germanys partner – especially when they demolish democracy at home. For more, see FAZ: