The Government of the Republic of Serbia on 11th of 2015. established the Council for the implementation of the Action Plan for Chapter 23 as the working body for the provision of professional support to the negotiating group for Chapter 23.
Belgrade is refusing to extradite three wanted Serbian Radical Party members to the Hague Tribunal, sparking claims that it’s trying to avoid the UN court hearing how PM Aleksandar Vucic was accused of witness intimidation.
Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, came to Belgrade last week with a clear message: Serbia has to fulfil its obligations and extradite three of its nationals – Petar Jojic, Vjerica Radeta and Jovo Ostojic – to The Hague for trial on witness intimidation charges.
Germany strongly supports the opening of Chapters 23 and 24 in the negotiations of the European Union (EU) and Serbia and will continue to support you in this process – assessed today the Ambassador of Germany in Serbia Axel Dittmann and pointed out that it is now important to work on the implementation of the Action Plan from Chapter 23.
At the conference of the Committee of Lawyers for Human rights „Implementation of the Activities Envisaged by the Action Plan for Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights“ Dittmann indicated that this Chapter is crucial because it deals with fundamental rights, the rule of law, freedom of expression, democracy and fight against corruption.
In addition to the negotiating Chapter 5 which deals with public procurement, the Council of the European Union currently holds the negotiation Chapter 25 (Science and Research) and Chapter 26 (Education and Culture).
We do not hide that we are very interested in opening these Chapters by the end of the year, said today Tanja Miščević, the Head of Serbia’s negotiating team.
Serbia has been struggling for six years to put in place a law on free legal aid, which is one of the requirements for progress in its EU accession negotiations. The law will be adopted by the end of 2016 and implemented in 2018, the justice ministry told EurActiv Serbia.
Due to the low salaries, high fees and lengthy court proceedings, many Serbs have difficulty affording justice.
As part of the preparations for accession to EU Serbia will need to change its Constitution in order to transfer a part of jurisdiction to Brussels and to guarantee the independence of the judiciary. Contrary to popular belief it will not be necessary to exclude the pursuit over sovereignty of Kosovo from the highest legal act, estimated today legal experts at the presentation of the analysis dedicated to this topic.
Consultative meeting of the National Convention of the European Union for Chapter 23 was held in Leskovac within the framework of an International Conference regarding the accession of Republic Serbia to the European Union. The meeting was held within NCEU with the support of the German Organisation for Technical Cooperation (GIZ), the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights YUCOM and local council of the European Movement in Serbia.
The consultative session of the National Convent on the European Union (NKEU) for Chapter 23, „The negotiating position of the Republic of Serbia within the framework of the international conference on accession to the European Union for Chapter 23 – Judiciary and Fundamental Rights“ was held today in Leskovac.
At the polls in 2017. the citizens will have to confirm the changes to the Constitution. The option is for a referendum to be held alongside the presidential election.
Citizens of Serbia could go to the polls twice next year – to elect the new president and to confirm changes to the Constitution that are necessary in the process of negotiations with the European Union by referendum. According to our information it is possible for the presidential elections, which fall in the spring, and the referendum on the Constitution to be held on the same day.
