site.btaProtest Waves and Political Turmoil Marked 2025 Across the Balkans

Protests and political turmoil marked the year 2025 across the Balkans.

In Serbia, student-led anti-government demonstrations continued throughout the year after erupting spontaneously following the tragedy in the northern city of Novi Sad, where on November 1, 2024 the concrete canopy of the recently renovated railway station collapsed, killing 16 people.

Turkiye witnessed in the summer its largest demonstrations in more than a decade, triggered by the arrest of opposition figures, including Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In Greece, a corruption scandal delayed subsidies for farmers, which in turn sparked nationwide agricultural protests and blockades of key roads and border crossings at the end of the year. Romania also saw protests, primarily driven by government reforms aimed at curbing the excessive budget deficit.

Croatians set the tone early in the year with a boycott of shops over high prices, a move later echoed in other Balkan countries.

Greece experienced a "seismic storm" in February, when thousands of earthquakes with magnitudes reaching around 5 on the Richter scale struck the area around the islands of Santorini and Amorgos. The tremors led to a state of emergency on four islands, the closure of schools, and partial evacuations.

In North Macedonia, a deadly nightclub fire claimed the lives of 63 young people in March.

Slovenia legalized assisted suicide in July, but suspended the law in November after a second referendum on the issue, in which voters rejected it.