The evolution of the name of the former Yugoslavia varied depending on the historical period in which it evolved. The most famous official names of this state, in its history, were:

• Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929 – 1945), initially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918 – 1929);
• Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1945 – 1992), this being the most stable and known name during the communist period;
• Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (1992 – 2003);
• Federation/State Union formed only by Serbia and Montenegro, which existed between February 4, 2003 and June 3, 2006. This state peacefully disintegrated in 2006, following a referendum, which resulted in two independent countries: the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Montenegro.

Currently, six independent sovereign states have been formed from the former Yugoslav territories: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia.

Relations between the European Union (EU) and the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro) resumed after the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević in 2000, and the EU officially declared the Balkan states potential candidates for accession following the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki in 2003.

On 7 November 2007, Serbia initiated a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU, which entered into force on 1 September 2013. The European Commission recommended that Serbia be declared an official candidate for EU membership on 12 October 2011, and the Council of the EU also made the recommendation on 28 February 2012. Serbia was granted full candidate status on 1 March 2012. In December 2013, the EU Council approved the opening of accession negotiations with Serbia, which had formally applied for EU membership on 22 December 2009 and was granted candidate status on 1 March 2012, as previously stated. EU accession negotiations began on 21 January 2014.

However, on June 4, 2026, new pieces of information came out in international media regarding the position expressed by the former Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and founder of the Movement of Socialists party, Aleksandar Vulin, regarding the fact that Serbia should organize a referendum after the upcoming parliamentary elections on the advisability of continuing its path to EU accession, in the context of the positions expressed and plans developed in Europe against Russia.

Aleksandar Vulin, president of the Supervisory Board of "Srbijaga" and founder of the Socialist Movement, published a text proposing a referendum for Serbia, where citizens could choose between EU integration or the so-called "Serbian World" policy.

However, it is noteworthy that the text developed based on A. Vulin's personal point of view was published on the same day that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić declared his support for the idea of all Western Balkan countries joining the EU simultaneously.

In his article in Večernje Novosti, A. Vulin argues that European integration is the biggest obstacle to Serbia's unity and interests, referring to the American national defense strategy, according to which the US favors a world of nation-states and opposes supranational organizations.

He proposes a revision of Serbia's domestic and foreign policy through a mandatory referendum, presenting it as a choice between the EU and the "Serbian World".

Vulin describes the "Serbian World" as a concept in which Serbs form a single political people and decide together on national issues, while maintaining ties with Serbia, regardless of residence. However, President A. Vučić has consistently distanced himself from the idea of the "Serbian World", stating that state policy does not deal with other people's borders and that this concept has not existed as an official doctrine.

In the same context, we must now recall the position adopted by A. Vučić in 2016, when he was acting as Prime Minister of Serbia, stating in international media that Serbia would not hold a referendum on whether to join the EU, an accession that Belgrade hopes to have in 2020. Asked at the time by the media about reports if Russian President Vladimir Putin was using his influence in Serbia to promote a referendum on Serbia’s integration into the EU, A. Vučić said: “I don’t know anything about Putin, but I know that some Serbian parties are openly calling for this.” A. Vučić added: “My answer to this question is clear: There will be no referendum, no matter how many initiatives there are in this regard.” He also explained at the time that there were a lot of “stupid and dangerous ideas” in Serbia and that if there were a crisis there, there would be a crisis in the entire region. As is well known, several small right-wing parties that favored close ties with the Kremlin at the time had in the past called for a referendum on Serbia's EU accession, even though the country had only just begun the negotiation process with the bloc.

Political experts and critics consider A. Vulin's idea unfeasible and based on ethnocentric rhetoric. Nenad Čanak [1], the founder of the LSV, links the idea of mandatory referendums to historical precedents, citing the 1998 referendum on the participation of foreign representatives in Kosovo, which served to legitimize the unilateral policies of the S. Milošević regime. He also emphasizes the close ties between A. Vulin's ideas and the Kremlin doctrine, arguing that his rhetoric serves to manipulate citizens' opinions and transfer responsibility for strategic political decisions to Serbian citizens.

Sociologist and activist Vesna Pešić harshly criticizes A. Vulin's initiative, calling it a manifestation of an aggressive and ethnocentric policy that incites new regional conflicts, while recalling the history of Serbian politics in the 1990s and the manipulation of public opinion through nationalist rhetoric. V. Pešić emphasizes that, in the current context, Serbia no longer has a choice between Russia and the EU, hinting at the fact that A. Vučić's policy towards Moscow has remained unchanged and that the commitment to the EU has been primarily economic, not reflecting a stable political orientation. V. Pešić concludes that the main challenge is the struggle for democracy and European integration, rather than the repetition of strategies oriented towards ethnic identity and the policy of regional domination.

Vulin's proposal sparked a wide debate in Serbia, reflecting the tensions between the pro-European orientation and the nationalist rhetoric that still persist on the Serbian political scene.

On April 3, 2026, the leader of the Socialist Movement, and a member of the ruling coalition, A. Vulin, stated that he had requested, during a meeting with the Serbian President A. Vučić, that all Serbs from the territory of former Yugoslavia and all those who see themselves as Serbs in their countries of origin automatically receive the right to Serbian citizenship.

Following the meeting between the representatives of the Socialist Movement and A. Vučić – when consultations on the possible organization of early parliamentary elections started, A. Vulin told the media that he also asked the Serbian president to convene a mandatory referendum on the continuation of Serbia's European integration. "The EU has demonstrated that it has a double standard policy towards Serbia. The EU is an organization that, in essence, does not respect Serbia, that does not want it as part of it, at least not in this size and independent. The EU takes more than it gives and has always been on the side of Serbia's opponents," A. Vulin emphasized.

On April 3, A. Vučić began consultations with representatives of political parties on the organization of early general elections and other political issues, in which the opposition will not participate. The Speaker of the National Assembly of Serbia, Ana Brnabić, recently stated that A. Vučić announced the launch of discussions within the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), as well as with other parties and political factors, on parliamentary elections and “the broader direction of the country’s foreign policy.” In turn, A. Vulin calls on A. Vučić to grant all Serbs the right to citizenship and to organize a referendum on EU accession.

In this context, it is significant to recall here that, according to a public opinion poll conducted in December 2025, the conclusion was that if a referendum on Serbia's accession to the EU were held, those supporting accession would have their way by a margin. In this context, it seems that the long-term trend of decreasing favorable opinions and support for EU accession in Serbia continues to decline.

Iliriana Gjoni, a research analyst at Carnegie Europe, told European Western Balkans that it is difficult to talk about a change in Brussels’ perception in Belgrade’s favor. According to her, the issue is not just the pace of reforms, but the broader issue of political orientation and the depth of alignment with European standards. “As a result, discussions in Brussels increasingly revolve around the credibility of Serbia’s European path, rather than around individual reform announcements. While there are promises to accelerate reforms, trust at this stage is not built through rhetoric, but through concrete institutional changes and political signals that demonstrate a real readiness to align with the EU.”

Bojana Selaković, coordinator of the National Convention on the EU (NCEU), said at the presentation of the publication “State of Democracy in Serbia 2025”, organized by the Center for Contemporary Politics, that the Serbian authorities are doing everything, except what Brussels demands. “When we should have focused on technical alignment […], we failed to do it. Instead, the Serbian authorities offered transactional agreements that no one had asked for. Now that this is no longer enough, the Serbian government has turned to technical reforms that, if implemented seven or eight years ago, could have led the accession process in a completely different direction,” B. Selaković emphasized. According to her, none of the government’s recent measures are producing tangible results, adding that such actions tend to dominate Serbian media coverage and discussions among certain diplomats in Belgrade for just one day.

As a result of the situation created in the process of Serbia's integration into the EU, a new operational team was established at the end of January 2026, at the initiative of the Serbian President, A. Vučić, tasked with accelerating Serbia's alignment with EU legislation in various, mostly technical, areas.

Although the Serbian authorities present EU integration as a priority, anti-European rhetoric continues to spread, along with increasingly harsh criticism directed at members of the European Parliament who have highlighted their concerns about the rule of law in Serbia.

[1] Nenad Čanak is a Serbian-Vojvodina politician, founder and former leader of the regional center-left party League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina (LSV). He led the party continuously for 32 years, from its founding in 1990 until November 2022, when he stepped down from the party leadership and was succeeded by Bojan Kostreš.
Main political coordinates and directions associated with his name:
• Ideological orientation: He is a pro-European activist dedicated to anti-fascism, multiculturalism, tolerance, and administrative decentralization of Serbia.
• ​​Status of Vojvodina: Promotes a political vision focused on achieving increased autonomy for the province of Vojvodina and protecting local resources from centralized exploitation.
• Political Position: He was a vocal opponent of the Slobodan Milošević regime in the 1990s and served as the President of the Assembly of Vojvodina from 2000 to 2004.
• Current Role: He remains active in public and political life, providing analysis and commentary on current issues in the region and the Western Balkans, including as a member of research institutes such as the Western Balkans Institute.