The highest Serbian officials, along with tabloids, continue to defend their opinion that the protests in the country are being financed from abroad with the aim of destabilizing Serbia. The narrative about colour revolution are proved by the facts that Serbian non-governmental organization for a long time have been the largest recipients of foreign funding from foreign governments and the EU.
Over the past decade the EU has allocated approximately 64 million euros to support civil society and media.
“The operation to overthrow Serbia has been in the making fro a long time. There has been long-term investment against our judiciary, prosecution… Enormous sums of money have been funneled into Serbian media that have become a platform for destroying Serbia. Billions of euros were invested in bringing Serbia down, and they nearly succeeded”, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said during the SNS rally in Niš.
“Blockaders (the word used tabloids for students) directly linked to London – now everything is clear: Europe is financing the destruction of the state and with those help”, reads the daily tabloid Informer.
Informer states that foreign governments are financing the protests, claiming that students have met with professor from Faculty of Political Science, Dušan Vučićević, who leads the “Popular Democracy”, project aimed at promoting democratic values among high school students in Serbia. The fact that the project is supported by the Westminster Foundation, publicly disclosed on the project’s website.
The financing of civil society organizations was also the topic of an Informer morning show featuring former Yugoslav foreign minister Vladislav Jovanović. The show claimed that the West is waging a hybrid war against Serbia and accused independent media outlets and civil society organizations, such as KRIK and Crta, of allegedly hiding their funding sources.
The more so, the funding sources of these, and other civil society organizations, are publicly available. Detailed information on projects and donors can be found on their websites.
EU has allocated to civil society and media 2-4 total non-refundable assistance
“The EU provides both financial and technical support to civil society development in Serbia through several instruments, including regional and national grants under the ‘Civil Society and Media’ (CSF) program, as well as the ‘Global Europe for Human Rights and Democracy’ program,” the Delegation stated.
Since 2020, 114 grants have been awarded to 143 civil society organizations in Serbia through three main mechanisms: project (action) grants, operational grants, and financial support to third parties (FSTP).
To support grassroots civic initiatives at the local level, over 700 sub-grants have been awarded to smaller civil society organizations across all 29 districts and 102 out of Serbia’s 174 municipalities.
Civil society organizations in Serbia have addressed a wide range of issues, including media freedom, environmental protection and climate change, youth policy and local youth engagement, human rights, anti-discrimination efforts, democracy, citizen participation in policymaking, social inclusion, Roma issues, healthcare and consumer protection, education and employment, and culture. The Delegation added that since 2020, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) has awarded 160 sub-grants to 106 media outlets and 54 civil society organizations, with one-third of the initiatives involving youth.
Not only do the Serbian non-governmental organization regularly receive funds from EU member states through European programs, it has also benefited from U.S. assistance in the past.
The United States, primarily through USAID and other agencies, has provided over 1 billion dollars in development aid to Serbia since 2000.
In 2024 alone, Serbia received $40,144,406 from USAID. Civil society organizations and media outlets which have become the opponents to current government received a huge amount of it.
Thus, it is impossible to hide or remain silent about the facts about foreign financing of organizations that have become opposed to the current government.
The available information about this gives every reason to assume foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
Over the past decade the EU has allocated approximately 64 million euros to support civil society and media.
“The operation to overthrow Serbia has been in the making fro a long time. There has been long-term investment against our judiciary, prosecution… Enormous sums of money have been funneled into Serbian media that have become a platform for destroying Serbia. Billions of euros were invested in bringing Serbia down, and they nearly succeeded”, President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić said during the SNS rally in Niš.
“Blockaders (the word used tabloids for students) directly linked to London – now everything is clear: Europe is financing the destruction of the state and with those help”, reads the daily tabloid Informer.
Informer states that foreign governments are financing the protests, claiming that students have met with professor from Faculty of Political Science, Dušan Vučićević, who leads the “Popular Democracy”, project aimed at promoting democratic values among high school students in Serbia. The fact that the project is supported by the Westminster Foundation, publicly disclosed on the project’s website.
The financing of civil society organizations was also the topic of an Informer morning show featuring former Yugoslav foreign minister Vladislav Jovanović. The show claimed that the West is waging a hybrid war against Serbia and accused independent media outlets and civil society organizations, such as KRIK and Crta, of allegedly hiding their funding sources.
The more so, the funding sources of these, and other civil society organizations, are publicly available. Detailed information on projects and donors can be found on their websites.
EU has allocated to civil society and media 2-4 total non-refundable assistance
“The EU provides both financial and technical support to civil society development in Serbia through several instruments, including regional and national grants under the ‘Civil Society and Media’ (CSF) program, as well as the ‘Global Europe for Human Rights and Democracy’ program,” the Delegation stated.
Since 2020, 114 grants have been awarded to 143 civil society organizations in Serbia through three main mechanisms: project (action) grants, operational grants, and financial support to third parties (FSTP).
To support grassroots civic initiatives at the local level, over 700 sub-grants have been awarded to smaller civil society organizations across all 29 districts and 102 out of Serbia’s 174 municipalities.
Civil society organizations in Serbia have addressed a wide range of issues, including media freedom, environmental protection and climate change, youth policy and local youth engagement, human rights, anti-discrimination efforts, democracy, citizen participation in policymaking, social inclusion, Roma issues, healthcare and consumer protection, education and employment, and culture. The Delegation added that since 2020, the European Endowment for Democracy (EED) has awarded 160 sub-grants to 106 media outlets and 54 civil society organizations, with one-third of the initiatives involving youth.
Not only do the Serbian non-governmental organization regularly receive funds from EU member states through European programs, it has also benefited from U.S. assistance in the past.
The United States, primarily through USAID and other agencies, has provided over 1 billion dollars in development aid to Serbia since 2000.
In 2024 alone, Serbia received $40,144,406 from USAID. Civil society organizations and media outlets which have become the opponents to current government received a huge amount of it.
Thus, it is impossible to hide or remain silent about the facts about foreign financing of organizations that have become opposed to the current government.
The available information about this gives every reason to assume foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.