civicplays

The public research collection

Formation of Vučević Government (May 2024) installs confirmed anti-CSO actors in ministries with direct regulatory authority over civil society. Three documented appointments: (…

← Civic Plays
summary
Formation of Vučević Government (May 2024) installs confirmed anti-CSO actors in ministries with direct regulatory authority over civil society. Three documented appointments: (1) Milica Đurđević Stamenkovski — Ministry for Family Care and Demography (May 2024). Leader of far-right Zavetnici party. Pre-appointment: primary driver of "foreign agent" and "anti-Serbian" narrative against human rights CSOs. Ministry scope: social policy and family welfare — sectors where large number of independent CSOs are active. Significance: institutionalizes far-right hostility toward civic actors within the ministry meant to cooperate with them. In 2025 becomes Minister of Labour — gaining direct oversight of NGO registration and labour aspects of CSO operation. (2) Nemanja Starović — Ministry of Labour (May 2024), then Ministry of European Integration (April 2025). CZDS co-founder and long-term associate (see ACT-SRB-052). Frames international reports on shrinking civic space as "biased or politically motivated." Ministry of European Integration scope: governs CSO participation in EU accession process — the primary legitimizing framework for civil society engagement with the state. (3) Dejan Ristić — Ministry of Information (May 2024). Museum of Victims of Genocide director → electoral list candidate → minister. Bypasses media law working group December 2024 (SRB-075). PATTERN — "Gatekeeper Effect" documented by monitors: funding: state grants increasingly diverted to GONGOs; oversight: ministries adopt regulatory/policing stance toward CSOs; legitimacy: far-right activist as minister mainstreams "investigating and labeling CSOs as foreign-controlled" as standard state function. Judicial capture parallel: 2024 government appoints lawyers with ruling party ties to High Judicial Council and High Prosecutorial Council — criticized by YIHR and CEPAS as ensuring that civil society legal interventions are treated as political interference rather than democratic participation.
country
Serbia
date text
May 2024
entities
sources
  • citation
    Wikipedia/CINS — Đurđević Stamenkovski biography (confirmed appointments May 2024); Nova.rs February 2026 — Starović CZDS co-founder documentation; Istinomer — Ristić biography (confirmed appointment May 2024); CINGO Second Report September 2025 — documents cooperation breakdown; EU Parliament 2024 Report on Serbia (cited in CINGO)
tactics
narratives
campaign ids
campaign phase
Stage 6: Structural Enabler
campaigns served
channels
  • Official/Regulatory
civic response
YIHR and CEPAS criticize judicial appointments; CINGO second report (Sep 2025) documents institutional cooperation at lowest level in years; European Parliament 2024 report expresses concern about CSO restrictive conditions
consequence category
Legal/Administrative
created at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
date precision
month
enabler status
Active — appointments ongoing
enabler type
Security/Intelligence Framework
escalation
6
harm track
Track 1 — Legal/Administrative
id
SRB-076
institutional consequence
Anti-CSO actors in regulatory authority over civil society funding, registration, and cooperation; GONGO funding diversion institutionalized; European integration CSO participation gate controlled by CZDS co-founder; Judicial oversight of CSO legal interventions captured
notes
STRUCTURAL ENABLER — Stage 6. Enabler type: Security/Intelligence Framework (broadened to include institutional capture of regulatory authority over civil society). This is the "institutionalization" phase documented by monitors: not naming CSOs as enemies (Phase 1) but placing enemies in charge of the bodies meant to cooperate with them. THREE CONFIRMED APPOINTMENTS (with sources): Đurđević Stamenkovski (May 2024, confirmed Wikipedia/CINS), Starović (May 2024 confirmed, CZDS pipeline documented Nova.rs), Ristić (May 2024 confirmed, Istinomer). ANALYTICALLY IMPORTANT: Starović moves to Ministry of European Integration April 2025 — the ministry governing CSO participation in EU accession. This is the most direct possible regulatory capture of civil society's primary legitimizing framework. PARTIAL SOURCING NOTE: operational details at state secretary/assistant minister level within Ministry for Human and Minority Rights not confirmed from public sources — flagged for further field research. Cross-ref: ACT-SRB-050 (Đurđević Stamenkovski), ACT-SRB-052 (Starović/CZDS), ACT-SRB-063 (Ristić). | ADDITIONAL ACTOR: Branislav Stojanović, Assistant Minister for Justice. Co-chairs EU-Serbia Subcommittee on Justice, Freedom and Security. Met by CINGO delegation September 2025 (primary source: CINGO second report). Rhetorical shift late 2024-early 2025: dismisses CSO data on "shrinking civic space" as biased — mirrors "anti-foreign influence" narrative. Analytical function: uses EU cooperation subcommittee as platform to legitimize dismissal of international CSO monitoring. PARKED — Nikola Bićanin (BIA → Acting Assistant Minister July 2024, Information/Justice, "cyber-security and foreign interference"): significant if confirmed — bring a "security-first" lens to civil society oversight. Requires public source verification before coding. Flag for field research.
occurred on
2024-05-01
signal ids
trigger type
TR-04: Electoral Event
updated at
2026-09-24T17:50:55.358311+00:00
version
1

Explore the connections

Associated reports

Associated signals

Associated responses

Read the complete JSON record