Not many could have guessed that the 2024 railway accident in Novi Sad, Serbia’s second-largest city, would spark some of the largest protests in the country’s post-Soviet history, ultimately leading to Prime Minister Miloš Vučević's resignation.

 

While demonstrators are demanding accountability for the 15 lives lost in the railway ceiling collapse, they also want greater transparency and the rule of law enforcement. But Serbia’s political landscape offers little in the way of real opposition to President Aleksandar Vučić.

 

How did the country reach this breaking point? And what comes next?

 

In this episode, producer Charles Cohen speaks with Engjellushe Morina, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, to unpack the roots of Serbia’s mass protests and what lies ahead.