Von der Leyen, Costa and Kos Congratulate Student List
Brussels has responded to Serbia's election with its first messages: the EU offers support for reforms, and Marta Kos says the Union's doors are open.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Antonio Costa and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos congratulated the Student List on its performance in Serbia’s parliamentary elections overnight between Sunday and Monday. They offered support for reforms, and Kos added that the doors of the European Union are open. The Republic Electoral Commission still has to confirm the final results, so the figures in this article refer to projections and always carry the name of whoever released them.
We wrote about the reactions of Peter Magyar, Spajic and Milatovic on the evening of October 25. These are the first official messages from the top of the European Union.
What did Ursula von der Leyen write?
Von der Leyen posted on X from the account @vonderleyen, and the post is dated October 25, 2026. She wrote in English, so the wording below is as she published it:
“Today, Serbian citizens turned out in record numbers to shape the future of their country. Congratulations to the Student List on the victory in the parliamentary elections. We are ready to support reforms on the rule of law, media freedom, the fight against corruption and strong democratic institutions, and to work together on Serbia’s future in the European Union.”
Dnevnik and tportal report that Antonio Costa published an almost identical message. N1 logs his message at 00:52 and says the European Union is ready to work with Serbia on building its future in the Union.
According to tportal, the congratulations arrived after Aleksandar Vucic, speaking from the Serbian Progressive Party’s election headquarters, conceded defeat and estimated that the Student List is winning between 135 and 140 seats.
What is Marta Kos saying, and where did she say it?
Sources disagree on the channel. Beta, at 00:20, reports that Kos published her message on X. Tanjug, which ran the story at 23:18, and RTS write that she sent the statement in a note to Slovenian correspondents in Brussels. The substance is the same, but the wording differs: Tanjug and RTS open with the sentence “Serbia has raised its voice,” while Beta carries this version:
“Dear Serbia, your voice has been heard! After almost two years of protests for democracy, the rule of law and the fight against corruption, the citizens of Serbia came out to vote in historically high numbers. Congratulations to the student list on the victory! These are precisely the values at the heart of our European Union. A new chapter can begin for Serbia. The doors of the European Union are open, and we are ready to move forward together.”
We quote Beta’s version. According to Tanjug and RTS, Kos also wrote in the note that the Union is ready to continue the journey forward together with Serbia.
What did Tonino Picula say?
The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Serbia, Tonino Picula, spoke after midnight. At 00:46, N1 carries his post on X:
“The assessment of the electoral process should be left to the observers, but the will of the voters deserves full respect.”
Picula adds, as N1 paraphrases him, that it is now time for the rule of law, reforms and institutions that serve all citizens. Beta carries that message under the headline “Now is the time for the rule of law and reforms.”
What data do the congratulations rest on?
The projections reported by the media differ in detail. According to CeSID and Ipsos, the Student List has between 52 and 52.9 percent of the vote, depending on the outlet reporting it and on the sample processed, and 139 to 140 seats. RTS says that, based on 80.8 percent of the sample, the CeSID and Ipsos projection gave the Student List 52.7 percent of the vote, or 140 seats, and the “United Serbia” list 38.9 percent, or 104 seats. Under that projection, no other list cleared the threshold.
On its website, next to the story on Kos, Tanjug also gives a figure it attributes to Radomir Saicic: the Student List at 52.08 percent and the Serbian Progressive Party at 39.81 percent. That differs from the figure given by CeSID and Ipsos.
Tportal recalls that the protests began after the canopy collapsed at the railway station in Novi Sad in November 2024, killing 16 people.
Kaja Kallas, the Union’s High Representative for foreign policy, had not spoken by the morning of October 26 in any of the sources we reviewed.
