Who is Ilija Srdanović? The doctor who took Serbia’s student movement to Macron and EU leaders

Serbia’s Student List is winning recognition from EU institutions and governments, and one man has become the face of that outreach: a cardiologist and university professor who might become the country’s new leader. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Until two years ago, Ilija Srdanović was a little-known professor at the University of Novi Sad. Now he is the international face of the movement that has transformed Serbia’s political landscape, and the first number foreign leaders dial. “I had a conversation with Ilija Srdanović, head of the Student List in Serbia,” French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X on Monday. “I reiterated to him France’s friendship toward Serbia and our determination to continue supporting it on its European path.” Macron is only the latest leader to reach out since the 25 October elections. In them, the Student List, a force born of a grassroots protest movement, ousted Aleksandar Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) after 14 years of complete dominance. It won 140 of the 250 seats, enough to form a government alone. European Council President António Costa, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar, North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos all rushed to congratulate the Student List. Almost all of them used the same number: Srdanović’s. The 56-year-old cardiologist emerged as a leading figure of the student protests that followed the Novi Sad railway station disaster, which killed 16 people on 1 November 2024. Born in Novi Sad and raised in Vrbas, he has worked at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases of Vojvodina in Sremska Kamenica since 1997 and teaches at the University of Novi Sad’s Faculty of Medicine. The tragedy became the catalyst for mass protests, as it came to symbolise the corruption of public institutions and the concentration of power under SNS rule. Srdanović became an outspoken critic of Vučić, notably over the police’s violent repression of the protests and interference in academic autonomy. “Those who are not aware that this unstoppable wave is present in society today and cannot understand it, unfortunately, are not worthy of the time they are in and do not serve this historical moment,” he told the Serbian daily Nova in September 2025. Two months ago, he was named to head the Student List’s slate of 250 candidates, making him one of Serbia’s most recognisable public figures. On foreign policy, Srdanović has publicly affirmed the Student List’s commitment to EU membership, and to anti-corruption, judicial independence and media freedom. “We remain committed to European integration,” he told Radio Free Europe in an interview published on 27 October. However, the Student List grew out of a heterogeneous movement, with worldviews ranging from the radical left, such as sociologist Jovo Bakić, to more conservative figures. It was united not by a shared ideology but by a demand for change and opposition to SNS rule. Its campaign was fought purely on domestic ground, with little attention paid to Serbia’s international orientation. So while Srdanović has already announced that better relations with neighbours will be a priority, there are points on which Serbia’s foreign policy is unlikely to change. The most significant one for Brussels might be the lack of alignment with the EU on sanctions against Russia, as many Serbs still remember how Western sanctions against Slobodan Milošević’s regime hurt the population. On Kosovo, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told Euronews that the Student List was unwilling to discuss recognition, and that “the music in Belgrade will not change”. Srdanović has said dialogue with Pristina should continue, but has left open a review of agreements reached so far. Srdanović is not the only prominent figure in the Student List, which has yet to agree on its leadership structure and the composition of the government. The movement’s elected lawmakers will vote on it. Euronews can confirm that he was not part of the four-person delegation that met Commissioner Kos in Brussels on Monday, the first high-level meeting between the Student List and the EU executive. The meeting was not announced in advance, and the European Commission declined to name the attendees. That reticence reflects the fact that the delegation’s members are not yet MPs and the old Vučić-led establishment formally remains in power. The Republic Electoral Commission only declared the final results on Thursday, setting in motion the deadlines for convening parliament and forming a government. For two years, the student movement kept a collegial decision-making structure, with no clear leader and a cautious, strategic communication approach that avoided personalising the struggle. Srdanović was not the obvious choice. Belgrade weekly Vreme reported that the top slot had been expected to go to Vladan Djokić, rector of the University of Belgrade, until a narrow majority of the movement’s plenum dropped him. Other figures who might bid for the leadership are Dejan Šoškić, the former governor of Serbia’s National Bank, and Radomir Saičić, a university professor. Montenegrin President Jakov Milatović spoke to both, as well as to Srdanović. In the Radio Free Europe interview, Srdanović said he would accept a nomination for prime minister, before adding that the list has no single leader and that candidates would be chosen collectively. To get there, he will have to convince a grassroots movement without recognisable leaders that he is the right person to lead Serbia. It is not yet clear whether he will emerge as its political leader or remain, for now, its most internationally recognised face.