In the area of Fundamentals, not only is the implementation of the measures from the Reform Agenda of Serbia delayed, but also what has been done so far is not satisfactory.
We wrote earlier about the advantages and shortfalls of this document.
At the session on October 3, the Government of Serbia adopted the Reform Agenda, a plan of measures to be taken in the next few years in order to gain access to funds from the European Union's Growth Plan for the Western Balkans. This strategic document was approved by the European Commission twenty days later. The first deadlines have already been set for the end of 2024. However, due to the late adoption of the document, a delay was allowed in the implementation of the first measures until the end of February 2025.
It was quite certain from the start that some ambitious measures from the Reform Agenda, such as the revision of the voters registry, could not be fulfilled by the end of 2024 because they require time to be implemented with quality. Even with that in mind, some measures were not initiated even immediately after the Reform Agenda was adopted in October. Thus, the election of new members of the Council of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) was illegally postponed after the mandate of the previous ones expired.
Even then, we warned that the deadlines from the Reform Agenda would be used to speed up some processes at the expense of quality and inclusiveness. This was immediately demonstrated by the example of changes to the criminal legislation, which were only partially included in the Reform Agenda and which were postponed only after public pressure. To make matters worse, changes to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code began years earlier, but the public was included at the last minute in a very condensed calendar.
The action plan for the Anti-Corruption Strategy was adopted at the end of December, which fulfilled the deadline from the Reform Agenda, but from the perspective of domestic regulations, it was two months late. Another and more important question is what is missing from the action plan and the very unambitious anti-corruption strategy. Of the other measures implemented until the end of 2024, only visas were introduced for four countries, one more than it was requested (out of a total of 16).
A bigger problem than the pace of implementation of measures is the manner in which they are implemented, all of which affects the quality of the final outcomes, if they come at all. The election of new members of the REM Council is a very good example of simulating a formal procedure, which was why credible proposers and candidates withdrew. Similar problems arose during the drafting of amendments to the media laws. There is still no will to solve the chronic problems, given that the biased and sleepy REM and the control of the media space are the main levers of the government that has captured the state.
A look at Chapter 24: pending draft legislation
When it comes to measures from the Reform Agenda related to Chapter 24, which are scheduled for June 2025, we see that some procedures have been initiated. We have no information on how the drafting of the Law on Internal Affairs is advancing, because no one outside the institutions is involved. Based on previous experience, we are afraid of what will come out of the MoI kitchen. Previous drafts, among other things, went in the direction of deepening the imbalance between the police and the protestors - because they gave the police new means to break up the demonstrations, while citizens were prevented from filming the police officers.
The draft of this law should have been ready by the end of January, after which the involvement of all interested parties was promised, and now it is uncertain what will happen with the regulations, given that the Government is resigning. Here, it is very important what indicators of the fulfillment of the measure will the European Commission use, because this measure is imprecisely defined. The only requirement is to strengthen the operational independence of the police and strengthen the safeguards against torture. However, neither the European Commission nor the Government of Serbia have so far developed a methodology for monitoring and evaluating measures from the Reform Agenda, even though the first deadline for certain measures has already expired.
Work is also very intensive on the Draft Law on Suppressing and Preventing Human Trafficking, where civil society representatives (among them ASTRA, a member of the prEUgovor) are involved, but fundamental disagreements have already arisen at the starting point, and it is questionable what the final result will be. In addition, a large number of renowned civil society organizations have recently suspended cooperation with the legislative and executive authorities, which includes membership in working groups for drafting regulations.
For the time being, we have no information about the other measures from Chapter 24, which are scheduled for June 2025, and which concern arms control and the fight against extremism.
Jelena Pejić Nikić, senior researcher at the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and coordinator of the prEUgovor coalition
Parts of the text were published as part of an article on the European Western Balkans portal on February 7, 2025.