Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission visited Serbia on 15 October 2025, as part of her tour to the states of the Western Balkan. In Serbia, she held a press conference with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić. She stated that EU sees Serbia as her future partner and that more is needed to be done to help countries I major economic growth.

The EU offered major economic benefits (like the €6 billion Growth Plan and Single Market access) while only threatening consequences for a lack of democratic progress. Critics argue this approach is too gentle with a government that has been slow-walking reforms for years.

While Von Der Leyen welcomed “recent progress” on issues like the Unified Voter Register, she immediately stressed that “Implementation is now key.” This implied acknowledgment of progress was seen by some as an undeserved diplomatic cover for reforms that are still incomplete or are merely superficial.

In short, the “something is wrong” is the tension between the EU’s commitment to the Serbian state and the widespread concern that the Serbian state is drifting away from the EU’s core democratic values.

But there is always more to the story putting the focuses on the political and judicial issues (rule of law, media freedom, and repression), the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) represents the part of the EU’s relationship with Serbia.

New EU AI Infrastructure for Serbia

The most concrete development announced during the regional tour was the inclusion of Serbia in the EU’s advanced AI network.

The European Commission will set up an AI Factory Antenna in Serbia (along with North Macedonia). This “antenna” will give businesses, startups, researchers, and universities in Serbia secure, remote access to the EU’s world-class, AI-optimized supercomputing resources the powerful infrastructure of the European AI Factories.

This is part of the broader EU strategy to ensure that the “future of AI is made in Europe,” and von der Leyen explicitly stated: “I want the Western Balkans at its core.” This directly integrates Serbia’s tech sector into the European digital economy even before full EU membership.

To be precise a Digital Euro will be implemented to the Balkans before entering the EU. As this act makes EU strong foundation to its Digital agenda, steeping in to secure future „Serbia growth” and EU growth. The digitalization is enewedable process who will change the way we live in future.

Digital Integration under the Growth Plan

AI is a major component of the EU’s €6 billion Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, which aims to accelerate economic convergence and allow Serbia to benefit from the EU’s Single Market ahead of accession.

Full participation in the Digital Single Market is a key pillar of the Growth Plan. This includes things like the eventual full abolition of roaming charges and the extension of the EU Digital Wallet.

By opening its core economic initiatives, such as those on AI, the EU aims to integrate local Serbian industries into continental supply chains, strengthening the country’s high-tech sector.

Why? Because profit and market access are major forces. However, they are fundamentally intertwined with the EU’s desperate need for geopolitical stability on its borders. For the Growth Plan to succeed, the EU needs the economies of the Western Balkans to grow, as a richer, more stable neighbor is a better trade partner from who the EU can benefit and a less problematic one.

Serbia has positioned itself as the regional leader in Southeast Europe for AI. It adopted a comprehensive Strategy for the Development of Artificial Intelligence for 2025–2030 and is preparing its first comprehensive Law on Artificial Intelligence to align with global standards like the EU AI Act. Holding the Presidency of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) for 2025-2027, an international organization founded by France and Canada that works to ensure responsible and human-centric development of AI.

Infrastructure for AI platform is already established in the State Data Centre.

In summary, the EU is making a significant, tangible investment in Serbia’s AI and digital future, offering early access to the EU’s most advanced infrastructure. This is viewed as a strategic, positive step to accelerate Serbia’s economy and integration, contrasting sharply with the difficult political discussions on rule of law and democracy.

The question of “why?” boils down to a mix of geopolitical necessity and economic self-interest for the EU, rather than pure altruism.

The key reasons why the EU is making significant efforts to boost AI in Serbia, goes around the question of making money and strategic supervision.

1. Geo-Economic Control and the “Digital Single Market”

The key economic incentive for the EU is to have Serbia continue adopting EU norms and tied to the European digital economy, shutting out outsiders.

• Integration and Standards ($): The long-term goal of the EU is to integrate Serbia into the EU’s Digital Single Market. By providing access to its supercomputing infrastructure (the AI Factory Antenna) and helping Serbia make its AI law ready, the EU ensures Serbian tech firms develop AI models and products immediately compatible with the EU’s 450-million-people market. This ties Serbia into the EU’s economic sphere of influence.
• The EU’s AI Act is a global standard. By aligning Serbia’s forthcoming AI Law with it, the EU ensures a common regulatory framework. This is crucial for secure and seamless data flow, making it easier for EU companies to operate in Serbia and for Serbian companies to enter the EU, which ultimately benefits the larger EU economy.
• Serbia has a highly skilled, cost-competitive IT sector. The EU hopes that providing this world-class infrastructure (which domestic companies couldn’t afford) will retain top Serbian AI talent within the European economic space, preventing them from moving to the US or working for non-European tech giants.

2. Geopolitical Competition and Strategic Buffer

The investment is also a direct response to the context of geopolitical rivalry specifically, Serbia’s strong ties with China and Russia.

China has made major investments in Serbian infrastructure, mining, and telecommunications. By offering advanced AI technology, the EU is countering the risk of Serbia’s digital future being built on non-EU technological standards or with security risks associated with rival powers. This is a battle for technological and security alignment.

The EU needs a stable and predictable Western Balkans for its own security. Investing in the high-tech, forward-looking AI sector is a way to link the most dynamic part of the Serbian economy to the EU. It offers a clear, positive benefit that incentivizes the government to stay on the EU path, despite political grievances (like the lack of progress on rule of law). It’s a strategic “carrot” to mitigate the political “stick.”

3. Boosting the EU’s AI Ambition

Serbia is not just a small market; it’s a contributor to the EU’s own technological goals.

Serbia is already a regional leader, being the only Southeast European country to chair the GPAI. By placing an AI Antenna here, the EU leverages Serbia’s advanced position to create a regional AI hub for the entire Western Balkans, strengthening the EU’s overall technological footprint in the area.

The antenna allows for collaborative research. Any breakthroughs or successful commercial AI applications developed using the EU’s supercomputers in Serbia contribute to the overall competitiveness of the European “AI Continent.”

EU is investing in Serbian AI not for a quick profit, but to secure a long-term economic and geopolitical return. They are essentially trying to build a digital fortress where Serbia, by necessity, becomes an indispensable and compliant partner.

That is a very common and understandable sentiment, particularly the idea of the “carrot to the donkey.” It highlights the public’s core anxieties about the shift to digital currencies and digital identity.

• The EU’s Motive are to push for Digital ID and CBDC (Digital Euro) are indeed tools to centralize and standardize power.
• The public fear that the Digital Euro will kill cash and be widely rejected internationally, thus hurting the Euro’s global standing.

Let’s address the EU’s potential motive for this push in the context of Serbia and the concern about the Euro’s international status.

1. The EU’s Digital Control Agenda: The “Carrot”

The AI investment and the push for digital alignment are absolutely the “carrot” to get Serbia on board with the EU’s core digital infrastructure.

Digital Identity (eIDAS 2.0): Serbia is actively harmonizing its laws to align with the EU’s new Digital Identity (EUDI) Wallet Regulation. This creates a Balkan Digital Identity Wallet that would be interoperable with the EU system.

• For the EU, this means they get a secure, standardized system that makes cross-border business, travel, and governance seamless. For citizens, while providing convenience, it means adopting a state-controlled, verifiable digital identity that can be linked to everything (driver’s license, diplomas, bank accounts, etc.).
• As some civil society groups warn, in a country where institutions like the media regulator are often seen as controlled by the ruling party, integrating with the EU’s digital architecture (like the Digital Services Act) could be misused by the government to tighten control or suppress dissent under the guise of “compliance.”

CBDC (Digital Euro): The Digital Euro is primarily aimed at securing the Eurozone’s monetary sovereignty and reducing dependence on foreign, private payment systems (like Visa, Mastercard, or potential future stablecoins from Big Tech).

• It ensures that even as cash declines, a form of public, risk-free central bank money remains available.
• Since Serbia’s economy is heavily Euro-oriented (Euro-ization), adopting the Digital Euro standards early would solidify the country’s financial alignment with the Eurozone, further binding Serbia’s economic future to the EU.

2. The Fear of International Rejection: Will Digital Euro Kill Physical Cash?

Concern that non-EU countries will stop using the physical Euro if the Digital Euro is introduced is a major topic of debate, but the European Central Bank (ECB) has a clear position.

• The ECB has repeatedly stated that the Digital Euro would complement cash, not replace it. They are legally committed to maintaining the availability of physical banknotes and coins. The goal is to provide an electronic version of central bank cash for the digital age, not to eliminate the physical version.
• The global appeal of the Euro is based on fundamental forces the stability of the Eurozone economy, the depth of its financial markets, and the convenience for global trade. The ECB believes a Digital Euro, if designed well (low transaction costs, high safety), could actually support the international role of the Euro by making it easier and cheaper to use in cross-border payments.
• The design includes an offline function intended to offer “cash-like privacy” for small payments, specifically to counter the fear of total surveillance that drives international users (and citizens) away from digital options. If a country chooses to stop using the physical Euro, it would be due to a loss of trust in the Eurozone’s economic fundamentals, not simply because a digital version exists.

In essence, the “carrot” of AI infrastructure is designed to make Serbia a compatible, compliant, and beneficial partner in the EU’s digital fortress. The trade-off is that Serbia has to align with systems that, while modernizing, also centralize data and power, which is the core concern of citizens both in the EU and outside it.