The expulsion of the Croatian citizens comes as Serbia is gripped by massive student-led protests that have blocked more than 60 universities across the country for four months. Senior Serbian officials, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, have repeatedly accused Croatia of being behind the student blockades, without providing evidence – accusations that Croatian officials have vehemently denied.
“Danger to the security of the Republic of Serbia,” reads the decision of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) by which the Croatian citizen Nikola Francetic’s residence permit in Serbia was revoked. In Belgrade, as he stated to the Croatian newspaper Jutarnji list, “he had been for seven years, had worked, had made friends” and “had never had any problems”. “Then I received a call from the police, from the Directorate for Foreigners”, he said on April 21. The decision he received from the Serbian MUP did not explain in what way he poses a threat to the security of Serbia.
“I am not a person of interest, I have not acted politically, my professional and private problems are like everyone else’s. Behind my deportation lies politics, because nothing else makes sense,” Francetic assessed. The case of Arien Stojanovic-Ivkovic, who has been living in Serbia for 12 years and has family in this country, has also emerged in public opinion. According to her lawyer, she is currently awaiting the decision of the administrative court regarding the request submitted to postpone the implementation of the decision to cancel her residence permit in Serbia.
EXPULSIONS HAVE A POLITICAL DIMENSION
According to data from the Croatian Embassy in Serbia, Francetic and Stojanovic-Ivkovic are among nearly 20 Croatian citizens who have been ordered to be expelled from Serbia in the last three to four months. “Most of them have been living in Serbia for ten years, have started families here, are stable in their jobs, have bought apartments … so behind all these bureaucratic decisions there are a series of human dramas hidden,” Croatia’s ambassador to Serbia, Hidayet Biscevic, told Radio Free Europe. In a written response to REL, Biscevic assessed that the expulsion of Croatian citizens has a political dimension. As an argument for this, Biscevic mentioned that in the decisions to cancel the residence permits of Croatian citizens “it is not explained or argued in any way” how these citizens constitute a “risk to the security” of Serbia.
“We can speculate about the motives for this worrying trend… perhaps, first of all, in the context of the current political and social situation in Serbia, or even because of publicly expressed insinuations that Croatia is inciting student protests or wants to destabilize Serbia,” said Ambassador Biščević.
The expulsion of Croatian citizens comes at a time when Serbia is experiencing massive student-led protests that have blocked more than 60 universities across the country for four months. Senior Serbian state officials, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, have repeatedly made accusations, without providing evidence, that Croatia is behind the student blockades – accusations that have been firmly denied by Croatian officials. Statements by Serbian officials about Croatia’s alleged involvement in the blockades and protests in Serbia have been rejected by the protesting students themselves, who have stressed in official statements that the protests are organized to fulfill their student demands. Among the main demands is that of determining responsibility for the deaths of 16 people in the collapse of a concrete shelter at the Novi Sad railway station. No official security institution in Serbia has so far issued a statement supporting the claims that there are well-founded suspicions that Croatia is behind the student blockades in Serbia.
THERE IS NO EXPLANATION FROM THE AUTHORITIES IN SERBIA, THE RESPONSE FROM BRUSSELS IS EXPECTED
The Serbian Ministry of Interior has not responded to Radio Free Europe’s questions about how many Croatian citizens have had their residence permits revoked in Serbia since the beginning of the year and what justification was given for these decisions. Croatia has also not received a response from the Serbian authorities on this issue. Croatia’s Ambassador to Belgrade, Hidayet Biščević, told REL that the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not reacted to the diplomatic note, through which the Croatian authorities have requested clarification on the expulsion of Croatian citizens. Biščević said that Croatia – which is a member of the European Union – is also waiting for a response from Brussels, which has been informed about this issue.
The EU has expressed concern about the expulsion of Croatian citizens from Serbia. “We are following the situation and will not hesitate to raise our concerns with the Serbian authorities, at the highest level, if necessary,” European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier said on April 11, in response to a question from a Croatian journalist in Brussels.
CAMPAIGN OF TARGETING CROATIAN CITIZENS IN SERBIA
Sofija Todorovic, director of the non-governmental organization Youth Initiative for Human Rights, told REL that Croatian citizens have been targeted in Serbia for months, which she said constitutes a violation of human rights. “We are seeing again that anti-Croat hysteria, which is present everywhere – in the media, portals, national television – and this does not seem to bother anyone,” Todorovic said. In a report published in mid-March, the Youth Initiative for Human Rights has identified all the problematic actions, with the aim of highlighting a “systematic campaign of disinformation and slander by Serbian officials and pro-government media” from December 2024 to March 2025, a campaign that targeted Croatian citizens – including citizens of Serbia who have Croatian citizenship.
“In essence, there is no real connection between what is happening today in Serbia and Croatia. This connection is being artificially built through this kind of oppression of Croatian citizens,” Todorovic concluded.
“A STRIKE TO PEOPLE’S SECURITY AND DETERIORATION OF RELATIONS WITH THE EU”
For Maja Stojanović, executive director of the non-governmental organization Civic Initiatives, the action of the authorities in Serbia constitutes a “blow to the basic security of people, to their lives and to the possibility of planning their future”. “This only further worsens the situation in the Region, relations that have already been damaged for years due to the official policy of Belgrade”, assessed Stojanović. The attempt of the Serbian authorities to present the protests in Serbia as a “colorful revolution” and to connect them with Croatia, Stojanović sees as “internal propaganda” of Serbia. “I consider as the most dangerous precisely what we saw in the 90s, when this internal Serbian propaganda began to spread throughout the Region, and this could have much greater consequences”, she warned.
She added that cases of expulsions of Croatian citizens could lead not only to a deterioration of relations with Croatia, but also with the EU, of which Croatia is a member. “I am concerned that we do not have an official or more severe reaction from the European Union itself. A country that denies residence permits without any reason or official justification to EU citizens cannot expect to join the EU,” said Maja Stojanović. Serbia started the process of negotiations with the EU in 2014. However, in the last three years, it has not opened a single negotiating chapter.
THE EXPULSIONS WILL FURTHER DETERMINE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES
Belgrade and Zagreb have traded accusations and harsh rhetoric on several occasions in recent years, with relations between the two countries on a downward trajectory. Croatia’s ambassador to Serbia, Hidajet Biščević, said that the expulsion of Croatian citizens from Serbia could further strain these relations. “It is impossible to avoid negative consequences, especially among citizens, because an atmosphere of distrust is created – people are wondering if they can travel to Serbia, what they should do,” he said.
Biščević added that in such an atmosphere “it is more difficult to expect any serious progress” in Croatia-Serbia relations. “Although a few months ago we had agreed on the manner and order of handling open issues. Unfortunately, instead of political will, we ended up with these expulsions, which – I would dare say – have a political dimension,” he concluded. (RFE)
