The third day of the Belgrade Security Conference continues with the public presentation of the “SecuriMeter 2025 Report: Western Balkans Regional Security Perceptions”.
The Regional Cooperation Council’s SecuriMeter 2025 survey offers a detailed insight into how citizens across the Western Balkan Six perceive security, governance, and everyday risks ranging from corruption and migration to cyber threats and economic uncertainty. As the fifth annual edition, the report aims to inform the public with factual, data-driven findings so that key decisions affecting the region are based on evidence rather than prejudice. With responses from more than 6,000 citizens, the report shows increasing trust in regional and European cooperation, while still highlighting persistent concerns about general security, personal safety, corruption, economic pressures, and depopulation.
Mr Amer Kapetanović, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, opened the session with welcoming remarks and highlighting three main messages drawn from citizens across the region. First, people are increasingly afraid of institutions that they feel are not performing as they should. Second, trust is shaped by delivery, not declarations. Mr Kapetanović presented a developed statistical model showing clear trends. Third, youth and the EU remain the strongest anchors in the Western Balkans. The model shows that citizens who trust local institutions are more likely to trust EU institutions as well. When the EU perspective feels tangible, trust increases. Security, he concluded, is not only about threats but also about trust.
Mr Aner Zuković, Senior Security Advisor at the Regional Cooperation Council, continued by presenting some of the most interesting results from SecuriMeter 2025. Only 25% of WB citizens are satisfied with the way things are going in their economy. 38% believe the Western Balkans is a secure region, while 49% consider their own economy safe. Just 31% are optimistic about regional security over the next 12 months. 46% of WB citizens think the continuation of the war in Ukraine negatively impacts security in the region. About 53% of WB citizens feel personally secure, yet everyday fears remain common. One-third believe domestic violence is widespread. Half of WB citizens carry less cash to avoid being robbed. 21% have installed security cameras, while 2% own a gun, and around 10% are considering getting one. The whole report is available here.
Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Belgrade, Dr Tijana Rečević talked about the importance of distinguishing security from safety as both analytical and theoretical concepts, with the main difference between the two being the intention behind the harm. She then mentioned how, unfortunately, we live in a society where slogans such as “corruption kills” are becoming less metaphorical, with issues such as unsafe roads, weakened standards, weak law enforcement, etc., becoming everyday life. She also linked this to growing issues of immigration, low trust in the media and police, and other related concerns. Later on, she emphasised the role of education in making long-term, lasting changes to society. As an education worker herself, she provided useful insight into how the student movement inspired changes in the way critical thinking is perceived in our societies.
Dr Sonja Stojanović Gajić, Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies South East Europe, University of Rijeka, talked about the role of wars, or rather narratives of war, as a security issue. She feels it boils down to two main issues. The first is a deep-rooted fear of war in our society, while the second is the shared trauma of war that characterises this region. However, she stayed on a positive note by giving the example of the student protests in Serbia, especially the movement from Novi Pazar, and how this generation normalised a relationship that previously was not very good. An important topic she mentioned was the fact that two-thirds of people in Serbia would not trade their freedom for security, which she points out as a significant improvement and a source of optimism.
Research Analyst at Carnegie Europe, Ms Iliriana Gjoni, pointed out the deeply rooted clientelism in societies throughout the Western Balkans. She later touched upon EU accession and the importance of the Serbian market, which undermines the process by giving Serbia a kind of privileged treatment. She was critical of the EU’s justification for this and said that the time of stabilitocracy has run out. Later on, she pointed out the importance of reconciliation in the region in order to move forward, which we as a region still have not achieved. To that end, she stressed the importance of ending nationalistic slurs while protesting against governments in the region.
Ms Nikolina Stojanovska, Managing Director and Project Manager at Market Vision, talked about the irony of corruption being normalised as a part of our daily lives. She emphasised that the latest tragedy in North Macedonia happened exclusively because of corruption. She pointed out a positive aspect in the SecurityMeter 2025 results: contrary to popular narratives, 68% of citizens wish to stay in their economy.
