Serbia: Gozi and Prebilič sound the alarm over the last independent newsrooms

On 19 October 2026, Sandro Gozi MEP (Renew Europe), Secretary General of the European Democratic Party, and Vladimir Prebilič MEP (Greens) raised the alarm over the fate of N1, Nova, Danas and Radar. These outlets are among the few independent voices left in a media landscape that Aleksandar Vučić has spent years bending to the will of his government. Serbians go to the polls on 25 October.

“The timing speaks for itself”

“For years, Vučić has built an information system in which almost every national broadcaster speaks with the voice of power, while independent journalists are smeared, pressured and isolated,” said Sandro Gozi. “N1 and Nova were the exception. Now, just as Serbians are about to vote, that exception is being emptied from within: directors replaced before the authorisation, newsrooms in revolt, ten N1 journalists gone in a single day. Whoever is behind this operation, the question is simple: who benefits? The timing speaks for itself.”

“What is at stake is not a commercial deal. It is whether Serbia completes its authoritarian turn: elections that are free only on paper and a media system entirely under government control. A candidate country cannot go down this road and expect Europe to look the other way.”

A regional network, a European responsibility

Vladimir Prebilič is a member of the EU-Serbia Stabilisation and Association Parliamentary Committee. “In our work in the European Parliament’s delegation to Serbia, we have watched the space for independent journalism shrink year after year,” he said. “These newsrooms do not matter to Serbia alone: they are part of a regional network that also reaches Slovenia and Croatia. When independent media in a candidate country are hollowed out on the eve of an election, the credibility of the whole enlargement process is at stake. The EU has the tools, from the Media Freedom Act to the accession negotiations. Now it must use them.”

Three initiatives on the ANN takeover

The two MEPs have taken three joint steps on the acquisition of Adria News Network (ANN) by European Future Media Investments, linked to Alpac Capital:

• A written question to the European Commission. It asks how these developments will weigh on Serbia’s accession negotiations, starting with the forthcoming 2026 enlargement package. It also asks whether the Commission will request an opinion from the European Board for Media Services under Article 23(1) of the European Media Freedom Act.
• A letter to Elisabeth Margue, Luxembourg’s Minister for Media and Connectivity. Her government must still approve the change of control of N1 and Nova S. The letter asks for full clarity on the timeline, the financing and the guarantees of editorial independence, and for confirmation that Luxembourg remains the competent Member State for these channels.
• A letter to Amma Asante, Chair of the European Board for Media Services. The Board’s expert group is examining the case. The letter argues that the transaction falls within the scope of the European Media Freedom Act, since the target and the buyer are based in Luxembourg and the network also operates in Croatia and Slovenia. It asks the Board to issue an opinion and to recommend legally enforceable guarantees of editorial independence.

What has happened so far

Since 17 August, the CEO of Alpac Capital has been registered as director of the Serbian companies operating these outlets, while the Luxembourg authorities confirmed that the transaction had not yet been approved. The Nova.rs newsroom has contested the new editorial appointments, and on 16 October ten N1 journalists resigned. International observers, including OSCE/ODIHR, have repeatedly documented the dominance of the authorities and the ruling party across Serbia’s national media. The European Commission itself has described political and economic influence on Serbian media as a source of serious concern.

“Serbia’s European future depends on free elections and free media,” Gozi and Prebilič concluded. “If the last independent voices fall silent, Brussels must draw the consequences in the accession process. Media pluralism cannot be a footnote.”