At the Belgrade International Theatre Festival (BITEF) in Serbia, the Manifesto was read aloud by Artistic Director Ivan Medenica and then discussed in an open plenum. The amended Manifesto is a wonderful example of a critical analysis of and positioning in relation to the claims articulated in the original text. Serbia started negotiations with the EU in 2014, a process which still continues. For many Serbians, the EU represents a desirable political perspective, especially as they still remember the negative results of nationalistic politics, which played a considerable role in the civil war in former Yugoslavia. This has made the issue of nationalism and national states a very sensitive and tricky question for the people living in Serbia. In recent years, the country has further witnessed the construction of a wire fence by the Hungarian government on the northern frontier of Serbia to prevent immigrants entering the EU.

Against this background, Ivan Medenica said in an interview: “The utopian idea of a Europe based on the sovereignty of citizens is something that is particularly valid from our perspective, from the perspective of a former country, former Yugoslavia that disintegrated due to nationalistic policies. From its launch in ’67, BITEF acted as bridge between the two then ideologically divided parts of Europe until the ’80s. In the history of BITEF, we have already experienced how theatre and culture can bring people together. It can build a bridge between cultures, nations and citizens and that is what we are trying to do nowadays as well, in a completely changed geostrategic situation in Europe.”