Ambassador of the EU in Serbia, Mr. Emanuele Giaufret met today with the representatives of the National Convention. Continuing the past year’s practice, the purpose of the meeting was to officially deliver the Annual Country Report of Serbia to the NCEU. The coordinator of the NCEU accepted the report on the behalf of the Convention. NCEU was again recognized in the Country report as an important actor for monitoring the EU integration process and providing meaningful contribution to the entire process.
Ambassador Giaufret presented the main points of the Annual Report and called for action in key areas such as rule of law and human rights. The Ambassador said the report was a political roadmap for Serbia on what needed to be done to come closer to the European Union. Ambassador Giaufret thanked the National Convent for its role and commended civil society in general for contributing not only to the report itself but to the wider goals of reforming Serbia further and to the EU agenda from within.
“The role of the Civil Society in policy making and in accompanying Serbia’s path to the EU is fundamental and therefore I came here today to officially give the reports to the National Convention. We count on you to contribute to Serbia addressing the priority areas, notably on the judiciary, fight against corruption and organized crime, media freedom, freedom of assembly, the domestic handling of war crimes and protection of environment. In the context of Russia’s aggression of Ukraine, we also want to count on our allies to be fully with us and this is why we call on Serbia to improve its alignment with EU foreign and security policy” the Ambassador concluded.
Coordinators of the NCEU Working groups that took part in the meeting assessed the report from the perspective of the Chapters they monitor. They introduced the views of the WGs regarding the rule of law, political criteria, economy, social policy etc.
NCEU representatives’ overall message is that the current situation calls for more intense cooperation among all the pro-European actors aimed and reaffirming the positive role of EU in Serbia’s development. Synergy among all active pro-European actors is needed for meaningful difference to be made. They also emphasized the need for NCEU to further actively engage in monitoring and advocacy of the process especially having in mind that the EU integration process in itself is a vital advocacy framework aimed at developing the entire country.
On the meeting NCEU announced upcoming Plenary session as a public event where the Book of Recommendations of the NCEU will be presented and compared with the main conclusions coming from this year’s Country report. The Plenary session will gather representatives of Civil society, government, EU Delegation, diplomatic core, media and the public.
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