A 20-year-old declares himself the first Gen Z president of a new country after discovering unclaimed land | –

In an age when almost every piece of land on Earth belongs to a recognized state, the idea of ​​creating a new state may seem almost impossible. However, Daniel Jackson, a 20-year-old who holds dual British and Australian citizenship, insists he did just that.

Jackson is the self-declared president of the Free Republic of Verdes, a small patch of forest and sand along the Danube River between Serbia and Croatia, which he says qualifies as president. Communal land – Land not claimed by any country. His project has attracted thousands of online supporters, a volunteer government, and even its own passports. But Jackson himself cannot enter the territory he claims to rule. After trying to settle the land in 2023, he said Croatian authorities removed him and imposed a lifetime ban on him, leaving the would-be president to run his small state from exile.

Disputed territories between Serbia and Croatia

The legal argument behind the Verdi project begins with a technical dispute over the border along the Danube River, which makes up much of the border between Croatia and Serbia. Historically, the border followed the course of the river. But over time, the channel of the Danube River changed, causing both countries to interpret the border differently. Croatia says the border should follow historical cadastral maps, while Serbia considers the border to be the center line of the Danube River.

Because of this dispute, several small pockets of territory lie outside the scope of both countries’ claims. Under international law, such places can sometimes be described as “terra nullius,” a Latin term meaning “no man’s land”—land not claimed by any sovereign state. Two areas along this disputed stretch have been described in this way. One of them is Gornja Sija, where Czech politician Veit Jedlicka declared a libertarian state of Liberland in 2015.

The other is Pocket 3, the forested sandbar that Jackson claims is Verdis.

Jackson explains the logic behind this claim simply: He says: “This piece of land was not claimed by anyone, as neither Croatia nor Serbia wanted it.” “Croatia insists that this piece of land is part of Serbia, while Serbia considers its border to be the central line of the Danube River. “This allowed the oldest active claimants under international law, in this case Verdi, to have a right to the land.”

A teenager’s experience in nation building

The idea began years ago, when Jackson was still in school. Born in Australia to British parents, he spent his childhood in Melbourne and attended Waverley Christian College, a private school in the city. He was only 14 years old when he and a group of friends began searching online maps for unusual geographic anomalies. Jackson later said: “It was just an experiment – ​​we wanted to do something unique. And I thought: Let’s make that a reality.” Some of his assistants were friends from school. The others were people from southeastern Europe he met online. Together they discovered the uninhabited region along the Danube and decided to try to turn it into a state.

The group named it “Verdis,” derived from the Latin word “viridis,” which means green, reflecting their focus on protecting the environment. The land itself is small, about 124 acres, or about half a square kilometre.

In terms of size, it is slightly larger than Vatican City, the smallest internationally recognized country in the world, and its area is equivalent to about 75 football fields. Apart from the forests and the river bank, the area was not permanently inhabited.

Declaration of the Free Republic of Verdes

Jackson officially declared the Free Republic of Verdes in 2019, when he was elected president by fellow supporters. From there, the group began building the country’s trappings. They created a flag with pale blue and white horizontal stripes, and designed a logo that combined symbols from Serbian and Croatian culture. The logo includes the white stork as the national bird, oak trees representing unity and strength, wavy lines symbolizing the Danube River, and symbols that reflect Serbian and Croatian heritage.

A government has also been formed that includes ministers responsible for foreign and interior affairs, infrastructure and defence, along with ambassadors and volunteer officials. Two offices have been set up, one in the UK and one in Serbia, staffed by volunteers who help manage the project.

This small country also drafted basic laws, wrote a constitution, and began issuing passports and identity cards, although none of them are internationally recognized.

Citizenship, e-residents, and Generation Z followers

Much of Verdis’ growth has occurred online. Jackson says the project has attracted thousands of supporters, especially among young Internet users interested in alternative governance and digital citizenship. So far, about 3,000 people have applied to become Verdesian citizens, many through the e-residency route that allows supporters to participate digitally in state institutions.

According to Verdi officials, the number of actual citizens and people issued passports and ID cards will reach about 400 by late 2025.

The e-Residency program has its own application process. Prospective members must first purchase an e-Resident Plus plan at a cost of €50 per year, keep it for at least 11 months, and then apply for citizenship. Applicants must either have the support of two current Verdisian citizens or provide a DBS background check, remain active on the Verdis forums, commit to moving to the area in the future and pay a €300 processing fee.

Applicants can also be fast-tracked if they make significant contributions to the project or are considered “extremely beneficial to the country’s development.”

The first attempt to level the land

For several years, Verdis has existed largely online. But in October 2023, Jackson and a group of his supporters attempted to physically occupy the area. They traveled along the Danube River and planted their blue-and-white flag on the ground, launching what they described as the “settlement phase” of their nation-building efforts. A schedule was planned such that different groups of Verde citizens would rotate through the area over the following months, ensuring a constant presence. But the effort lasted barely a day. “It didn’t last long,” Jackson later told CNN Travel. According to him, the Croatian police arrived the next morning, dismantled the camp and detained the settlers for questioning. He added: “They dismantled the camp.” The group says they were detained for approximately 12 hours before being deported.

Most of the participants received three-month bans from Croatia, but Jackson and his deputy Hector Bolz, who splits his time between Dover and Bulgaria, were issued with lifetime bans on the grounds that they were considered a “threat to internal security”.

Croatia’s response

The Croatian government rejected the idea of ​​considering the land as communal land. In a statement to CNN, the Croatian Foreign Ministry described Verdi’s project, along with the nearby Liberland claim, as “provocative actions that have no legal basis.” The ministry said Croatia was simply fulfilling its obligation to protect its external borders and the Schengen Area, Europe’s passport-free travel zone. The official refused It also colored the idea that disputed borders automatically create unclaimed territories. The ministry said that both Croatia and Serbia “share an understanding of and respect for a fundamental principle of international law: the fact that a pending border demarcation does not make any area terra nullius (‘no man’s land’) open to occupation by a third party.”

Life in exile

Today Jackson runs Verdis from the UK, and describes himself effectively as “in exile”. He lives with a family friend in Dover, and works remotely as a freelance game developer for the online platform Roblox while continuing to organize the Verdis government. Funding for the project comes from a combination of donations, merchandise sales and a citizenship-by-investment scheme. In one case, cryptocurrency enthusiasts raised more than $37,000 through an unaffiliated digital token known as $Verdis. The government also pays the travel costs of ministers when they attend meetings or attempt to visit the province. But access to Verdi himself became increasingly difficult. Jackson says Croatian authorities have installed cameras along the coast, and that patrol boats quickly intercept ships approaching land. “If you hover your boat for 10 minutes in territorial waters, the Croatian police boat will be on its way very quickly,” he says. Some of the Verdis boats also disappeared after the 2023 deportation, which Jackson suspects were seized by Croatian authorities.

Ongoing protests and tensions

Verdi supporters also organized demonstrations. Members of this small country organized protests outside the Croatian embassy in London, accusing the authorities of blocking access to the territory.

Nationalist groups in the Balkans also posted videos online showing the burning of the Verde flag, Jackson says. Despite the setbacks, he insists the project is not finished yet. “I still believe that sooner or later we will return to the land, and Croatia will have to respect international law, including the Verdi territorial integrity,” he told CNN Travel.

“We will never give up on our goal. We hope to have positive relations with Croatia in the future. We want to work with them,” he added.

A country that exists mostly online at the moment

Currently, Verdis is working with an interim government while Jackson remains unable to access the lands he claims. The group recently opened a second embassy in Novi Sad, Serbia, hoping to garner support among young Serbs and Croats interested in the idea of ​​a small, neutral state that promotes peaceful coexistence. Jackson himself says he does not intend to remain president forever.

His long-term plan is to eventually step down and become a citizen of Verde, leaving leadership to someone else once the country is established. “They did not try to include us and I think they are upset because we did not give up our right to the land,” he said of the Croatian authorities. “Maybe they are worried that we will become a lawless state.” For Jackson, the question is not if Verdi will exist, but when. “We have organized protests outside the Croatian embassy, ​​and they are trying to exclude us as much as possible,” he says. But he remains convinced that the experiment will continue. “It’s a matter of time.”