The evolution of relict fore-arc basins and their kinematic relationships with sedimentation is often less well understood due their fragmentation or amalgamation of individual basins and continental units by the subsequent collision or other post-orogenic deformation. One example is the Cretaceous–Paleogene closure and associated sedimentation of the Neotethys Ocean that was located between the European and Adriatic continental units. Our combined structural, lithostratigraphic and sedimentological study in the NE Dinarides of Serbia demonstrates a variable Cretaceous fore-arc deposition on the European plate that correlates with the shallow- to deep-water sedimentation over the subducting Adriatic margin. The fore-arc was affected by an initial Early Cretaceous–Cenomanian period of contraction, followed by Turonian–Santonian extension, the basin being exhumed by contraction during the latest Cretaceous–Early Paleogene collision. The collisional geometry was subsequently fragmented by structures associated with the Neogene evolution of the Pannonian Basin. The correlation with the preserved amount and depositional character of Cretaceous trench sediments documents an interplay between subduction accretion and subduction erosion associated with external tectonic forcing, slab retreat and back arc extension. •Cretaceous - Early Paleogene evolution of the subduction – fore-arc – back-arc system in the NE Dinarides•A dynamic forearc – trench – foreland system integrates complex deformation histories and associated deposition•Sedimentation controlled by interplay between subduction accretion and subduction erosion associated with slab retreat•Regional Turonian - Senonian extension in the European fore-arc and back-arc domain controlled subduction-related magmatism•Entire subduction/collision system subsequently affected by Miocene extension of the Pannonian Basin