The Rectors of the five Flemish universities express their profound concern and unequivocal solidarity with the University of Belgrade in light of the recent arrests of students and the escalation of state actions targeting the academic community.

We have taken note of the alarming developments described by the University of Belgrade, including police raids on university premises, the use of force against peaceful demonstrators, and the arrest of students in their homes. These actions represent a grave infringement on fundamental rights and strike at the very heart of what universities stand for.

Universities are, by their very nature, spaces of free inquiry, critical thought, and peaceful dissent. The targeting of students and academic institutions for exercising these principles sets a deeply troubling and dangerous precedent—not only for Serbia, but for the entire European academic community. When academic freedom is curtailed and institutional autonomy undermined in one country, it weakens these principles everywhere.

We recall that these values are enshrined in the Magna Charta Universitatum, to which the University of Belgrade and many European universities are signatories. The Magna Charta affirms that the university is “an autonomous institution at the heart of societies,” and that freedom in research and training is a fundamental principle of university life. Any state interference that compromises these principles is incompatible with the commitments we share across Europe.

The developments in Belgrade risk normalizing state intrusion into academic life and the criminalization of peaceful student engagement. This is not only a national concern; it is a European one. If left unchallenged, such actions may embolden similar encroachments elsewhere, eroding decades of progress in safeguarding academic freedom and institutional independence.

We therefore call upon European institutions and the international community to respond decisively to these events. We urge respect for the rule of law, the immediate cessation of actions targeting students and academic institutions, and the full restoration of conditions that allow universities to function freely and independently.

We stand in solidarity with the students, staff, and leadership of the University of Belgrade. Their struggle to uphold academic freedom and institutional autonomy is one that concerns us all.