Corruption as the main problem of society and priorities for its suppression

Corruption is by far the biggest problem according to citizens (22%), which happened for the first time in 25 years that similar research has been done – according to the survey presented today by Transparency Serbia. At the same time, as many as 41% of citizens believe that it is present to a "very large extent", which is more than double the increase compared to the 2021 survey, where the same question was asked.

Citizens also believe that the level of corruption has increased in recent years (52%), compared to only 14% of those who believe that it has decreased. Citizens' expectations for the future, however, are predominantly optimistic – 38% believe that the level of corruption will decrease in the next year, while 20% think that the situation will be even worse.

Ratings for the government's performance in the fight against corruption have also deteriorated, with a particular increase in the share of citizens who believe that the government is not effective at all (34%), compared to 7% of citizens who gave the government the best ratings.

Serbia has not had an anti-corruption strategy in place for five and a half years. The document was adopted without much fanfare in July 2024. Therefore, it is not surprising that one-third of citizens are convinced that the Strategy still does not exist, and even more that it exists, but is not being implemented. The most accurate answer, that the Strategy exists, but that it does not address some of the key issues, was given by 17% of respondents, while 16% were convinced that the Strategy is being implemented and that it is yielding results.

Bearing in mind the key role of the Public Prosecutor's Office in combating corruption and citizens' assessments of the government's poor performance in the fight against corruption, we asked citizens about four factors that can have a negative impact on the prosecution of corruption. By far the largest number of citizens who see the selectivity of the prosecutor's office as a problem, i.e. the situation where people who have political power or political protection are prosecuted for corruption (71%). Citizens also note that the prosecutor's office does not investigate all cases of possible corruption, when they are reported by the media or other state authorities, and no one files a criminal complaint, and the majority see this as a problem (52%). There is a similar number of citizens who point to a factual lack of independence as the cause of inadequate performance. Problems of an objective nature (lack of manpower, resources, knowledge) are also recognized by a significant number of citizens, but the number of those who think that this is not an obstacle to the fight against corruption prevails.

In a situation where elections are mentioned again as one of the possible ways to resolve the socio-political crisis, and when Serbia has not made any progress in terms of improving electoral conditions based on the recommendations of ODIHR or domestic organizations, we wanted to determine to what extent certain forms of political corruption are present about which citizens can have direct knowledge. Bribery of voters (giving money or gifts to vote for a party or candidate) is a phenomenon about which 21% of citizens have direct knowledge, and four-fifths of citizens have at least indirect knowledge. Employment in the public sector is represented to a similar extent, where the hired person does not do his job at all, but "something for the party". Providing some services to a foreigner in exchange for employment is a matter that 17% of citizens know something about firsthand, while the use of funds from public companies for party needs and extorting services from private companies for the same purpose are a little less present, judging by the responses of citizens.

If citizens were to be asked, state authorities, as in previous surveys, should be more engaged in the investigation of corruption cases, but also work on the protection of whistleblowers. The next two priorities among the offered are related to the prevention of abuses in the election campaign and the publication of contracts and information about their work.

Large anti-corruption protests are related to the demands of students in the blockade, and the first of these demands refers to the publication of the entire documentation on the project of reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad. However, this is only one of many projects that were contracted without tender and where the documentation was not transparent. Therefore, we asked the citizens for their position – whether the Government should publish contracts concerning the spending of public money, regardless of whether the publication would be to the liking of its foreign partner. Such a question arises from the frequent practice that the non-disclosure of contracts is justified by the actual or alleged requirements of the companies with which the state does business. More than three-quarters of citizens believe that contracts should be published, and 55% are explicit that this must be done. Only 17% of respondents are inclined to justify the secrecy of contracts.

Citizens are equally opposed to another common practice – that large jobs are contracted without conducting a tender. Namely, almost 90% of citizens believe that as much competition as possible should be provided for the selection of contractors for the most valuable works, while 9% justify awarding the work directly to companies from abroad, in order to gain political support from these countries.

Another form of violation of the legal order, the adoption of the so-called "special laws" is not justified by citizens. On the contrary, 78% of respondents are explicit that all projects should be subject to regular procurement, construction and environmental rules. Only one in ten citizens finds some justification for the largest projects to be implemented on the basis of special laws, although this is exactly the case in practice (e.g. EXPO, Belgrade Waterfront, Moravian Corridor).

Citizens similarly support the professional management of public companies and public administration, and only 10% share the views of high-ranking state officials who mark the existing "acting state" as desirable, due to more efficient control.

Two-thirds of citizens say they have been involved in anti-corruption activities. Among the activities offered, they most often state that they have refrained from participating in corruption even though they have suffered some damage as a result (41%), while one quarter state that they supported a party or candidate in the elections, thinking that they will fight corruption. One quarter of the respondents were more active – they made proposals, signed petitions, published comments on social networks and the Internet, or participated in the activities of NGOs and local groups. Only 2% say they have reported corruption to state authorities.

At the same time, citizens expressed their readiness to do much more, so as many as 41% say that when voting for them, an important factor would be the belief that the party/candidate will fight corruption, and as many as 35% indicate that they would report corruption to state authorities. A significant number of them are also ready for other forms of activism.

The research was conducted by CESID on a nationally representative sample in the period between March 13 and 24, 2025, among adult citizens in the territory of the Republic of Serbia, excluding Kosovo and Metohija. The questionnaire was jointly developed by CESID and TS. Interviewing of citizens was conducted using two research techniques – CATI (telephone survey) and CAPI (field work), i.e. direct contact with the respondent.

Transparency Serbia presented a document detailing the priorities for the actions of the Government, the National Assembly and other bodies, a description of the regulations that need to be amended, as well as a list of the most important recommendations of the European Commission, ODIHR and GRECO that Serbia has not yet fulfilled. We believe that the implementation of measures from this program could lead to a significant reduction in corruption in Serbia, and the measures are of such a nature that they can be applied immediately, or serve for the development of program documents of participants in political life and future elections. More on this at TS website.