Enlargement Policy Accelerates, Serbia Slows Down

 

The new European Commission report, published at the end of October, shows that Serbia is still making very slow progress with the implementation of reforms in the accession process. This pace is in increasing contrast to the intensified EU enlargement policy following the Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022.

The Report's findings show that reforms in the past decade were slow, incomplete and insufficiently effective. Serbia is still halfway to membership, with marginal improvements, while the average annual progress in 2024 was the lowest so far. No progress was recorded in a record nine chapters, and in the areas of public administration reform and freedom of expression in Cluster 1.

In Chapter 23 (Judiciary and Fundamental Rights), Serbia again received only a passing grade (2 out of 5) for overall readiness and annual progress, while in Chapter 24 (Justice, Freedom and Security) progress is noticeable - the readiness grade increased by half a point and a grade of 3 for progress was repeated. And yet, when it comes to these key areas, Serbia is losing the race to most of the EU membership candidates in its neighborhood.

The new Report of the European Commission is more concise and finally enriched with charts, which replaced the descriptive listing of statistics that burdened the text. These statistics, now graphically displayed, are often the only source of data that the public receives from institutions. However, in the Report we also find data that do not match those that institutions provide to civil society, which raises the question of their credibility.

The Report covers the period from 15 June 2023 to 1 September 2024. Below, the Coalition prEUgovor highlights and comments on the key findings of the European Commission (EC) in the areas it regularly monitors.

Mixed track record of democracy: a concise and restrained account of numerous controversial events in the reporting period

According to the EC assessment, the track record of the functioning of democratic institutions and processes is "mixed". In the overview of the state of affairs and developments, the Report tends to show the positive and negative sides, thus creating the impression that there is a balance between them.

During the period covered by the Report, Serbia had no government for six months and held parliamentary and two rounds of local elections. As prEUgovor assessed in the last Alarm Report, the European Commission states that the absence of executive power has had a negative impact on reform processes. It lists a number of very controversial events for the state of democracy in Serbia, including the protests and the treatment of their participants, but it refrains from any assessment. The only drawback that clearly stands out is that the frequent resort to calling early elections during previous years had a negative impact on the public's trust in the functioning of democratic institutions.

The section on elections is equally restrained and concise. „Tangible improvement and further reform" are requested and the general assessment of the ODIHR observation mission is conveyed - on unequal election conditions and the dominance of the participation of the President of the Republic in the campaign. However, according to the reports of domestic and international observers, the level of abuses in the elections in December and June deserved more attention and a harsher remark, such as the one given by the European Parliament in its February 2024 resolution. That resolution is not mentioned in the Report either. On the other hand, the European Commission decided to include in the Report the activity of the Working Group for the Improvement of the Electoral Procedure from 10 October 2024 (outside the reporting period), when drafts of legislative amendments were submitted to the ODIHR for opinion.

The work of the parliament remains problematic and subjected to the dynamics dictated by the executive power. It is marked by "tensions, offensive language and occasional incidents which at times lacked impartial reaction from the Speaker." The European Commission requests that the effectiveness, autonomy and transparency of the Assembly and the role of the parliamentary opposition be strengthened so that the system of checks and balances in the division of power is functional.

It is pointed out that the Assembly does not have an annual work plan, that there was a delay in the election of parliamentary bodies, that a large number of unrelated agenda items are still being combined for joint discussion. There was no mention of the problem of unsubstantiated authentic interpretations of laws, the fact that the Code of Conduct remains a dead letter because reports of its violation have not been considered for years, nor the problem of the lack of content of most of the adopted parliamentary conclusions on the reports of independent state bodies.

The attitude of the government and institutions towards civil society is unsatisfactory. The problems faced by civil society organizations and human rights defenders are listed without a clear evaluation. "Serious cause for concern" was highlighted only for the increase in SLAPP lawsuits, mostly brought by representatives of various levels of government. It is noted that the formal mechanisms of cooperation have not yet produced results, and in particular, it is requested to improve the public financing of civil society.

Serbia's relations with other candidate countries and the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue

The European Commission continued with generally positive assessments of Serbia's relations with its neighbors and participation in regional cooperation processes, especially in the development of the Common Regional Market and the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. The news is that this time more attention was paid to the review of bilateral relations with Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia. This reflects the new geographical reality of EU enlargement.

Regarding the normalization of relations with Kosovo, an analytical overview of the events is given with the expected assessment that both sides should show a more serious and constructive commitment to dialogue and reconciliation.

The fight against corruption is better evaluated in Chapter 23, but permeates the entire report

At first glance, this year's report of the European Commission for Serbia again creates the impression that the EU cares more about the fight against corruption in Serbia than the Serbian authorities. The word corruption is mentioned 51 times in the report, already in its introductory part, as one of the most important issues, and not at the very end, as in the exposé of the current Prime Minister of Serbia.

The European Commission has also made an effort to present the results of the work of courts and prosecutors' offices in corruption cases much more transparently than they themselves have done. However, the report again omitted certain important issues and didn’t request adequate solutions for all problems. Among other things, a much bigger problem than the interpretation of statistical data on investigated cases of corruption is the missing information on which documented cases of suspected corruption have not been investigated.

The overall preparedness assessment is unusual - between the "certain" and "moderate" levels, which is a novelty in the rating. The Report notes "certain progress" - citing one of the priorities from the previous report - the adoption of a new anti-corruption strategy, the quality of which is not further commented on. The need for the adoption of an action plan is emphasized. In support of the progress, it is also stated that the number of final convictions, new investigations and indictments for cases of high-level corruption (in fact, under the jurisdiction of the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime) has increased, but that there are obstacles to achieve a strong track record.

It was also commended that Serbia joined the regional project to observe trials in cases of organized crime and corruption. On the other hand, it is indicated that Serbia fully fulfilled only one, and partially ten of the 24 GRECO recommendations from the fifth round, while the unfulfilled recommendations from the Fourth round of evaluation are not mentioned.

It is a general assessment that corruption prevails in many areas, which is worrying. The Report emphasizes the need for strong political will to effectively address corruption issues, as well as a "robust criminal justice response to high-level corruption". Targeted risk assessments and specific measures to fight corruption in the most vulnerable sectors are also requested. This resulted in general recommendations that are similar to last year's.

Problems with corruption permeate other negotiating chapters in the report, including economic criteria, elections, defense and security, border management, education sector, public procurement.

Shortcomings in the public procurement system remain

For the public procurement system, the European Commission's 2024 report states that “Serbia has a tendency to circumvent its legislation in this area through intergovernmental agreements and special laws." As an example, the regulation on the basis of which a strategic partner for the solar power plant was selected, as well as a special Law on the EXPO 2027 exhibition and the accompanying Regulation. These acts, it is stated, "raise concerns" regarding compliance with EU rules, including the (in)possibility of using legal remedies against contracting authorities' decisions and deadlines.

In addition, which is not mentioned in the EC report, the problem with these rules is the significantly higher thresholds for the publication of procurement. However, this concern of the European Commission did not result in a recommendation to repeal the special Law on the EXPO Exhibition (i.e. its Article 14, which excluded the application of the Law on Public Procurement), although a similar recommendation was made a few years ago, when a special Law for Line Infrastructure was adopted.

The report also notes shortcomings in the implementation of the Law on Public Procurement (LPP) - that the value of procurements concluded without the implementation of the law has increased and that it is almost identical to the value of procurements concluded on the basis of regular LPP procedures. However, it is important to emphasize that these statistics do not include procurements that are exempted on the basis of special laws, because this type of exemptions is not recorded in the reports prepared by the Public Procurement Office on the basis of data received from contracting authorities.

Priorities in the area of ​​public procurement, where "limited progress" was observed last year, remained similar to the previous year - harmonization of the Law on Public-Private Partnerships and Concessions with the European directive, but also to ensure that all such projects are subject to public procurement procedures. The second recommendation requires that the rules from the interstate agreements concluded with "third parties" be in line with the principles from the EU rules. In connection with this, it should be noted that, unfortunately, there are also interstate agreements concluded with individual EU members, where competition is also excluded.

Finally, it is requested to strengthen the capacities of numerous state bodies that are important in the field of public procurement, but the list is still not complete, because the role of the Commission for the Protection of Competition (detection and punishment of restrictive agreements between bidders) is not recognized, nor the role of the budget inspection of the Ministry of Finance, which is responsible for controlling the execution of procurement contracts.

More resources are needed to improve the protection of fundamental rights

In the recommendations for fundamental rights in this year's report, the European Commission emphasized the importance of implementing previous recommendations and the necessity of allocating appropriate human and financial resources for the protection of human rights, highlighting the areas of anti-discrimination, violence against women and children, which largely coincides with the comments in all prEUgovor Alarm reports.

In regard to the non-discrimination policy, further work on harmonization with European standards and the adoption of an action plan to combat discrimination were noted, as well as shortcomings in data collection, a small number of convictions for discrimination, as well as hate speech, threats and violence aimed at human rights defenders, Roma community, LGBTIQ community and migrants.

On gender equality, the Report pointed out the risk that the Constitutional Court's decision to suspend the implementation of the Law on Gender Equality would adversely affect further progress in this area. Highlighted were the importance of investing more efforts to remove gender stereotypes and prejudices from textbooks and public discourse, the importance of collecting administrative data classified by gender, as well as the fact that numerous groups of women experience multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

When it comes to violence against women, it is pointed out that the GREVIO recommendations regarding the harmonization of the definition of rape in the Criminal Code with the Istanbul Convention have not been implemented. The Report notes a small number of victim support services, which are run mainly by civil society organizations with limited resources. It is clearly emphasized that the transparency and fairness of public funding in this area should be significantly improved, as well as the importance of the role of specialized organizations for victim support, which is not recognized. Also, the importance of the availability of safe houses for all victims and the importance of their participation in the creation of an individual protection plan is highlighted.

It is pointed out that the adoption of the action plan and related financing for the Strategy against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence, as well as for Resolution 1325, is increasingly delayed. In this area, there is a lack of appropriate official statistics. Cases of obstetric violence and the implementation of the national program on sexual and reproductive health are mentioned, for which it is necessary to provide adequate funds.

When it comes to rights of the child, the Commission reminds that Serbia should ratify the Third Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and respond to the recommendations of the Lanzarote Committee. It is pointed out that the Council for the Rights of the Child did not meet during 2023, and was re-established only in March 2024, that the Strategy related to violence against children has expired, that an action plan for the rights of the child has not been developed and that not all sectoral protocols have been harmonized with the General Protocol on the Protection of Children from Abuse and Neglect.

It is emphasized that the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence should treat children who have witnessed violence as victims, and include them in individual protection plans, as well as that the Family Law should explicitly prohibit physical punishment of children. And the new Law on Juvenile Offenders and Criminal Protection of Minors has yet to be harmonized with EU acquis and international standards.

In relation to procedural safeguards and victims' rights, the Commission points out that the legal framework is only partially harmonized with the acquis of the EU, that it is necessary to establish a national network of general and specialized providers of support for victims, provide adequate resources for services in higher courts, efficient referral mechanisms, and greater capacities of local self-governments to provide free legal aid, with expected amendments to the Law on Free Legal Aid.

Partially improved rating for Chapter 24

Serbia received a half-grade increase (from 2 to 2.5 out of a total of 5) in the degree of readiness for membership and some progress in Chapter 24  due to the conclusion of a new agreement with Frontex and the adoption of strategic documents in the field of combating human trafficking. Again, these are only paper improvements and their implementation is still expected.

Judicial and police cooperation with European bodies, migration management, cooperation in the field of drugs and suppression of euro counterfeiting were positively evaluated. The areas in which reforms need to be accelerated are asylum, the fight against terrorism, visa policy, and most of all the fight against organized crime.

First among the priorities in Chapter 24 remains ensuring the operational autonomy of the police in relation to politics and organized crime. It is a measure that representatives of the Ministry of the Interior regularly ignored during the rare discussions with civil society about strategic and legal documents. That is why it is very important that this goal is included in the Reform Agenda. In criminal investigations, the European Commission points out, the police should answer only to the competent prosecutor's office. There, in practice, we have another weak link that remains unaddressed by the draft amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code.

It is surprising that the fight against violent extremism and radicalization is not mentioned in this report, especially considering that this area is recognized as one of the priorities in the Reform Agenda. It is stated that Serbia has not had a strategy against terrorism for three years, but that the implementation of the previous strategy was evaluated. However, neither the public nor expert civil society organizations have seen that evaluation.

Fight against organized crime: same problems, same recommendations

The ratings of the European Commission for the fight against organized crime are lower compared to the entire Chapter 24 - certain degree of readiness (2 out of 5) and limited progress (2 out of 5). Not only is Serbia rated lower than Montenegro, but also in relation to Albania and North Macedonia, that have opened negotiations only two years ago, and even in relation to Ukraine, which is in a state of war.

The recommendations in this area remained the same. According to the opinion of the European Commission, one of the priorities in the fight against organized crime remains the review of the role of the security services in criminal investigations, especially in the application of special investigative measures such as, for example, wiretapping. Almost nothing has been done on that front so far. Moreover, the Draft Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which was on public debate in October, expands the role of the Security and Information Agency (BIA) in criminal investigations, which is contrary to this priority. But that is a matter for the next report.

The statistics are not convincing either - the number of indictments has increased, but there are fewer convictions for organized crime. They are often based on plea agreements, and the Commission warns that this may give the impression of impunity. In contrast to the previous report, the prominent organized crime cases before the court are not mentioned by name. This can be justified by shortening the report overall. Thus, the text on Chapter 24 fits into 8 pages, as opposed to 20 in the last year’s report.

Observed progress in raising the level of awareness and response to the problem of human trafficking

The Report assesses the adoption of the program and action plan for combating human trafficking as progress and now expects their implementation. However, it states that the situation regarding human trafficking is worrying. In 2023, 21 persons were convicted, four of them for the crime of human trafficking in the form of organized crime. The prEUgovor coalition notes worrying differences in the available data because its member ASTRA has not received from the competent courts the verdicts for organized crime reported by the state.

The Commission's recommendations from last year have not yet been fully implemented. Coalition prEUgovor welcomes the repetition and expansion of the recommendation from last year's report: it is necessary to implement a program to combat human trafficking, strengthen national coordination efforts and strengthen protection and support for victims. It also states that it is necessary to strengthen the capacity to detect potential victims of human trafficking, especially those from third countries that use the visa-free regime, and calls for a proactive and thorough investigation of allegations of trafficking for labor exploitation involving foreign workers.

Migration and asylum: similar assessments without detailed explanations

Overall, in the areas related to the migration management system (the area of ​​legal and illegal migration, asylum, visas, Schengen and external borders), there are no major changes in the evaluations given compared to the previous EC report. For certain areas, a slight improvement or a slight slowing down of the reform process is noted, but there is no detailed description of specific activities that need to be undertaken in order to improve the situation.

Progress in the field of legal and illegal migration was assessed as satisfactory, although the report itself states that there is still a need for further improvement of the application of regulations in the part that will enable a fair and efficient asylum system. This basically represents the need to establish a system of differentiation of migrant categories and regulation of the legal status of migrants who are identified in a mixed migration flow.

The Report notes the effort invested in preventing irregular migration and combating the smuggling of migrants through increased police activities. However, there is no evaluation of the sustainability of such activities, nor a more detailed evaluation of the way in which they were implemented, or what were  their effects, especially before the judicial authorities. It is commendable that the reform processes are noted, such as changes in regulations in the area of ​​legal migration and enabling the liberalization of access to the labor market, but there is no qualitative evaluation of the conducted procedure and the effect of the six-month implementation.

In the area of ​​asylum, unlike the previous report, the need for improvement is noted. In the report for 2023, significant attention was paid to changes in the legislative framework and the need for further harmonization with European standards. In the Report for 2024, there is a complete absence of a statement as to why the reform processes were not implemented even though the public consultation process was conducted. It is commendable that the report states the need for the establishment of a free legal aid system financed by the state, as well as for the improvement of integration mechanisms for persons who were granted asylum.

The visa-free regime for at least three countries is to be abolished by the end of 2024

In the visa segment, there are no significant changes and it is noted that there is a need for changes to the visa-free regime for 16 countries in order to achieve full compliance with the EU. Also, it is noted that the visa-free regime is expected to be abolished for at least three countries by the end of 2024, which is also one of the indicators foreseen in the Reform Agenda accompanying the Growth Plan.

The area of ​​Schengen and external borders was observed to the greatest extent through the need for further technical improvement of border control and the implementation of the Strategy for Integrated Border Management (IBM). The Report states that the implementation of the Strategy has slowed down, but it fails to mention that no new members of the coordination mechanism for the implementation of the IBM have been appointed since the appointment of the new Serbian Government.