Serbia’s Organized Chaos +

Vucic in Moscow on May 9, on his way to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Ramil Sitdikov, RIA Novosti, President of Russia)

EU’s Missionary Work

Protests against recognizing the December 2023 elections reached such proportions that many feared a replay of the 2014 Maidan demonstrations that led to war in Ukraine.

Pavle Cicvaric, who had learned organizing skills in numerous programs and workshops funded by Western foundations, led the student protests in Belgrade. The young leader’s parents are both deeply involved in the work of NGOs.

His mother, Dr. Jelena Žunic Cicvaric, is project coordinator of the NGO “Regional EU Resource Center for Civil Society in Serbia,” a key channel for the redistribution of European Union funds, allocated only to those actively working on raising awareness of “European values.”

His father, Radovan Cicvaric, a long-time politician campaigning for Euro-integration, is also promoting “European values” as director of the NGO Užice Center for Child Rights (UCPD) founded in 1998.

While the UCPD focuses on children, another influential NGO, the Belgrade Open School (BOS), founded in 1993, sponsors programs for students and young professionals, including “training of social change agents.”

Both are part of the “Youth Umbrella Organization of Serbia” which receives significant funds from international donors such as USAID, the Soros’ Open Society Foundation, and various European Union programs.

They organize workshops, training sessions, and projects aimed at strengthening the capacities of local NGOs and promoting European values. “Transition” countries applying for EU membership must listen to instructions on how to be worthy Europeans.

This educational task is undertaken by the European Fund for the Balkans (EFB), a joint initiative of European foundations that envisions, runs and supports initiatives aimed at strengthening democracy and fostering European integration.

Significantly, the EFB is sponsoring a “Joint History Project” to produce and spread a unified version of regional history, with the kind support of the German Foreign Office.

The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD) is a foundation based in Belgrade. It was founded in March 2003 by the German Marshall Fund, USAID, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Other donors include the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Tipping Point Foundation, Robert Bosch Foundation, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, and the foreign affairs ministries of Denmark and Greece. The BTD supports grant donation, policy dialogue, and leadership development.

If you want to be a leader, you know where to go.

It is hard to imagine that these Western-financed organizations have not contributed to the zeal and skill of Serbian student protesters.