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European integration experts do not expect the final assessments of the EU Council of Ministers on Serbia’s European path, which should be approved today, to differ greatly from last week’s draft of that document, which was released by RTS.
Photo: EPA-EFE / STEPHANIE LECOCQOur interlocutors believe that the final text will criticize the official Belgrade for insufficient and slow progress in important segments, mainly related to the rule of law, which almost completely excludes the possibility of opening a new chapter in the negotiations on membership of the Union. . this month.
As they point out, there are still doubts about the future negotiations, as Serbia has publicly accepted the new EU Enlargement Methodology, which means that the chapters will be grouped into so-called “clusters” (areas).
Jovana Spremo, EU Integration Advisor at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, told Danas: “I don’t think the Conclusions (of the EU Council of Ministers) are different from the Draft, mainly because it is impossible to do something drastic It happens in seven days to improve the stalemate in the field of rule of law. Since June, statements by several EU officials, including ambassadors, have indicated that the situation with the opening of the chapter will not change by the end of the year, so I think this will not happen, especially considering the decline in the ‘test of the rule of law’, that is, the degree of violation of rights and the non-functioning of institutions in the context of the fight against the coronavirus ”.
– Serbia only accepted the new Methodology declaratively, recently the Minister of European Integration spoke about it, but it is not known that the Government formally accepted the new Methodology with the conclusion, that is, the public was not aware of it. Opening a chapter a year basically does not bring us anything, because at that rate we will open everything in more than a decade, but, on the other hand, it would mean a lot for the political points of the government. If that happens, then it is more than clear that the government changed some political commitment by opening the chapter, because there are no real changes in the rule of law and there is no basis for the opening, says Spremo.
Nikola Burazer, executive editor of the Western Balkans European portal, told our newspaper: “I do not expect new chapters to open this year as the reasons why member states were against opening the chapter in June continue there”.
– It is not entirely clear how the application of the new methodology will be, mainly due to the delay in opening negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. It is true that the chapters will be grouped into groups, but it has not been clarified exactly what it will be like for countries that have already opened some, but not all the chapters of a given group. The bottom line, however, is that the membership conditions have not changed, and Serbia is doing extremely poorly with the progress of the reforms. Democratic institutions are in free fall. No methodology can help here, but only a policy change on the part of the government, notes Burazer.
It should be recalled that the draft conclusions of the EU Council of Ministers suggest, among other things, that Serbia will focus on “the most important and urgent reforms”, especially in meeting the criteria of Chapters 23 and 24, which include “the construction of an independent and efficient judiciary, constitutional reform, against corruption and organized crime.”
It also stresses the need to “ensure the proper functioning of democratic institutions” in Serbia and calls on parliamentary and political forces to engage in a cross-party dialogue led by the European Parliament, in order to reach a “broad social and inter-political consensus. parties on EU reforms “. “.
Necessary acceleration of reforms
“We reiterate our call to Serbia to ensure a safe and favorable environment for the unimpeded exercise of freedom of expression and media independence,” the draft read. At the same time, the EU Council calls on the Serbian authorities to show “political will, significantly accelerate reforms and achieve concrete results in the field of law, as well as in other key areas”. At the same time, the EU Council calls on the Serbian authorities to show “political will, significantly accelerate reforms and achieve concrete results in the field of law, as well as in other key areas”.
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