Although it is clear to me that with the title of the text I am paraphrasing the title of Slobodan Milošević's useless book, written on the eve of his "march through the institutions", and then through our lives, it is somehow inevitable because we are truly entering a year after which many things in our region will be clearer. Milošević, admittedly, spoke of years, not one, but this one, 2026, could really be a turning point.
So let me start in order, starting with our Bosnia and Herzegovina. Which has been at the mercy of everyone and everyone for a long time, and perhaps the worst abandonment always takes place in an election year. Which is exactly this one. No one knows at the moment what we will hear until the elections, how much additional nationalist tensions we will have to endure and what kind of person we will come out of it all after these elections. And it is realistically ungrateful to predict. As always, the greatest chance is that the absolute victory of the three leading nationalist parties will be confirmed once again and the eternal status quo will continue. Just as it is clear that I would personally like this not to happen. However, apart from the mere hope for a better outcome, citizens still have the opportunity to go through the campaign with a cool head, then go out to the elections en masse and then vote rationally. I know, I know, maybe I am telling fairy tales, but it is up to us, not anyone else.
In Croatia, there is still some kind of unraveling of this pro-Ustasha revolution that simply cannot stop itself in mid-step. Especially since Thompson has launched an open war against the Zagreb city authorities, and right-wing historians and the media have launched a continuation of the war to expel undesirable people from the university. Currently, after Hrvoje Klasić, the target is Dejan Jović. It is true that this is not an election year in Croatia, but Andrej Plenković will be very responsible for how it all unfolds. Along with Zoran Milanović, of course, who is conspicuously silent. And it can end either with the final implementation of the law and the Constitution and the sanctioning of the Ustasha, or with physical confrontations, which are getting closer as the right feels more powerful and comes to people's windows. So far, to Tomislav Tomašević and Dalija Orešković.
In Serbia, by all accounts, this will truly be the year of resolution and a way out of the unbearable stalemate, in which Aleksandar Vučić still holds all the levers of power and maintains it through violence, but in reality he can no longer rule. All the more so since his foreign policy has completely collapsed and both he and his regime have been de facto ostracized from all sides, except from China. Because of which, again, there must be no real judicial epilogue to the demolition of the canopy in Novi Sad. Although Vučić is inclined to never tell the truth, it is hard to believe that there will be no elections this year, regardless of what he has announced these days. Now the only question is to what extent his people and services have managed to pierce the student movement and whether the pro-European opposition will survive the odium of the nationalist public and those who do not perceive themselves as such, but in essence they are, because they ask the most normal questions regarding the student list. Of course, it is difficult to predict the outcome here too, but Vučić is still going to the end.
Finally, Montenegro. In which the pro-European part of the public hopes that this will be the year in which negotiations with the European Union will be concluded. And there are many signals that this will actually happen despite numerous obstacles both in the country itself, and within the EU, as well as from Serbia. The European Union simply needs proof that the enlargement process is continuing, and Montenegro is ideal and small enough to be a demonstration example of this. This makes our stagnation due to someone's interests and spite all the sadder. If this happens and Montenegro enters the European Union in 2028, it will be a big game changer for the entire region. And a very positive one.
Certainly, 2026 promises much more than we had this year in the region, but again, most of that is up to us.
Happy New Year to you.
Bonus video:
