Anchoring or Undermining Democracy: The European People's Party and Democratic Backsliding in Serbia

Abstract

This article considers how the European People's Party (EPP) responded to democratic backsliding in Serbia that unfolded under the leadership of its affiliate, the Serbian Progressive Party. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of the European Parliament resolutions and the responses of EPP legislators, the article demonstrates that the EPP has systematically ignored increasingly non‐democratic practices in Serbia. Seeking a wider pan‐European sway, the EPP strove to protect its Serbian member driven by strategic concerns and the logic of partisan allegiance. While there was a high level of intra‐party cohesion, a few EPP members consistently dissented and did not toe the party line. Their positions were fundamentally informed by contrasting normative commitments to liberal democratic principles and ideological proximity to the Serbian Progressive Party.